


When Our Worlds They Fall Apart

by edensrose



Category: One Direction (Band), Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Anal Sex, Bottom Louis, Enemies to Lovers, M/M, Slow Burn, Space Opera, Space Politics, Star Wars AU, Top Harry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-30
Updated: 2020-11-30
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:54:46
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 42,228
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27472330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/edensrose/pseuds/edensrose
Summary: Harry put his hand over his heart as if Louis had wounded him. “You’re so harsh, my liege! Perhaps you need to relieve some tension…” He let his voice trail off suggestively.“The day I ask YOU to relieve tension is the day I lose all my wits and join the Imperials,” Louis said. “It will never happen”Written for the Bottom Louis Fic Fest 2020- Prompt 325: Star Wars AU with Harry as Han Solo and Louis as Leia.
Relationships: Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson
Comments: 28
Kudos: 133
Collections: Bottom Louis Fic Fest 2020





	When Our Worlds They Fall Apart

  
They say it’s cold in space. This was not always how it felt to Louis. Aboard his ambassadorial vessel, it was not so cold and sterile as the cell he found himself in now. Out of all the missions he had carried out before, he had never found himself in this position. His ship was damaged, even if he managed to get out of the cell, which was unlikely, he wouldn’t be able to leave. His co-conspirators were either arrested or worse, killed. He fought the shiver that he felt in his bones. There was something evil aboard the ship, and he knew what it was. Something that stalked his nightmares when he managed to sleep. He only hoped that the droid he stored the schematics in would find Obi-Wan, the legendary Jedi that had served his father in the Clone Wars. 

His mouth twisted into a frown. He hoped his mother and father were able to find a safe place to hide off-planet. There were no guarantees with a civil war brewing. 

Louis turned over onto his side, curling in on himself. 

Years ago, before he had any idea of joining a rebellion, he had dreamed of following in his father’s footsteps, to become a senator, to be a voice for the people. When he had turned seventeen, the year of independence, he had fought off marriage offers and diplomatic alliances. Just because he was a prince of Aalderaan, nobles expected him to fall at their feet, as if that was all he was good for. No, he had seen the fire in his father’s eyes when they discussed the Empire, the gross injustices that were being done all over the galaxy in the name of the Republic. Louis snorted. Republic indeed. It was tyranny. Instead of getting married or shipped off-planet, Louis had taken his father’s place as senator. Bail Organa had become a loud voice against the emperor, too loud. With Louis, he knew how to praise and flatter, meanwhile ferreting out information from the inside. He became a Rebel and a spy. That’s not to say that he disliked politics, he thrived on discourse and discussion, and for a while, there was more equality, but now? Louis was twenty-five. He had served the government for seven years. He knew that a corrupt government could never flourish. He had been on diplomatic missions before but never one so important as the one he had just completed. Or hoped he had completed. 

The Empire was building a star destroyer. Something capable of vaporizing whole planets and stars. He had seen the schematics himself, and now while being on an Imperial ship, he had seen the Death Star itself. He only hoped that his reckless gamble paid off and that Obi Wan would receive the message and the plans. He didn’t even know if he’d live to find out. 

Louis thought again of his mother and father. He knew now that he’d been adopted as a baby, his real parents having perished. He never felt that loss, although there was some other presence he felt at times growing up but never could put his finger on the feeling. He was lucky that he had grown up as privileged as he had, that his father had recognized the same ambition and drive. Being part of a political family, Louis had seen the birth of the resistance against the Empire. Although he had been young, he was one of the first members. They had called it the Alliance to restore the Republic. Louis had bled for this ideal, would die for it if necessary. This small rebellion would incite a civil war, and Louis was ready to be a part of it. He had seen so much heartache caused by the oppressive powers of the emperor. When he had first been presented at the senatorial court to be shown as his father’s replacement, he had formerly met the emperor. He had been so ready to question him, to unleash his righteous fury, but he found himself unable. It was hard to even look at the emperor, so distorted with power and the darkness surrounding him…he hadn’t been able to describe it to his father, although his father had looked more grave than usual at Louis’ description. He trusted Louis’ instincts implicitly. 

If Louis hand’t been sure before, he was then. The emperor didn’t deserve the power he had, Louis wondered at how so many people could be so blinded by smoke and mirrors. His captor had been there as well, standing by the emperor’s side, his favorite. Darth Vader. 

Louis didn’t know if Vader was man or machine or both. The body was male and over six feet, menacing, and the rumors were that he was a Sith Lord. Louis could believe it, the darkness was almost unbearable, the very air seemed tainted. His body was encased in a black suit, it was all that he ever wore. The face was the worst. He had no eyes in his helmet, just fathomless black. It seemed that if you stared too long, you could fall in. 

He didn’t know much about the black-cloaked figure, but he stayed well out of his way. Death and destruction followed him everywhere. He was not so lucky now. He had been sent on a mission to recover stolen plans of the Death Star, but unfortunately, his ship had been boarded. The Empire was well aware that there was a rebel alliance trying to thwart their plans. Louis hadn’t thought he was under suspicion, but apparently, Darth Vader had him in his sights.  
After he had recorded the message for Obi-Wan and tucked the plans safely inside the droid, his ship had been boarded by Imperial troops. Louis had claimed he was on a diplomatic mission, but he knew they didn’t believe him. The fate of the rebel alliance rested on those plans. He had lost count of how many hours or days he’d been imprisoned. Everything was black, sterile. It was driving him crazy thinking about the ways the mission had went wrong, could go wrong. What if Vader had found the droid before it could escape? What if it had all been for nothing. He wished that he could know if his parents and extended family were alright. He wondered if they knew he’d been captured. 

It had not been the worst thing he endured on the Imperial ship. He brought his arms around himself tighter, trying to forget unsuccessfully. He had been accused by Vader and, by extension, the Empire of being a Rebel spy. They believed he knew where the Rebel base was located. If the Empire could smite the budding rebellion’s headquarters, they could control the outcome without it turning into an all out civil war. Of course, Louis knew where the base was, but he had no intention of telling them anything. Until they had brought in the interrogation droid. Louis knew that he would have nightmares for years to come about what he experienced. Luckily for him, his mind was compensating for the torture. That the Empire would stoop to such base levels to receive information was despicable. 

The droid looked inconspicuous, floating in the air beside Vader, but inside was a vial of hallucinogenic to be injected in the skin, some kind of fluid that made a person susceptible to suggestion. Louis didn’t know how many people had died, how long the “republic” had lied about using force against innocent people just for information’s sake. It was inhumane, and somehow Louis had lived to tell the tale. 

Shards of memory passed through his mind as he went through the ordeal. Even now, he could barely remember what had happened. The pain was excruciating, his mind felt like it was on fire, he couldn’t remember how to form words, and still he resisted. 

Louis had always wondered about himself. The way that he knew when things would go wrong, his incredible perception. He wasn’t stupid, he had read forbidden texts about the Jedi, the subset of people trained in the Force. He also knew about the Sith, dark masters of the evil side of the Force. The rumors that Vader was a Sith Lord. As he went through that torture, his mind hanging on by a thread, both of these things were confirmed to him. He knew that he was at least Force-sensitive, although he had never been trained. One thing was true, Darth Vader was evil, and Louis had never been more afraid. Even though he had withstood the torture, the roving over his mind, some after effects remained. 

He kept seeing things he thought were memories in his head, replaying at the oddest moments in his seclusion. 

_A woman’s face/ the smell of lavender/ a tiny hand next to his own/ wind rushing through his hair/ a desert planet/_

His mind ached, although he could not sleep. How many Rebels had the Empire tortured and killed because of what they could or could not say? He had no doubt that he would probably be executed soon. If he was tortured in such a way, they had no use for him as a bargaining chip. 

All they had wanted to know was the location of the Rebel base, which Louis refused to give them. He didn’t know how long he had lingered in that half-state, of being on the brink of mental failure, where death would have been welcomed. It could have been weeks, months, days. He shivered at the memory, hoping that would be the last time he’d ever have to go through that. He had survived once, but he didn’t know if he could do it again. 

The doors to his cell opened, and he cautiously sat up. An Imperial trooper stepped in and then, to his dismay, Darth Vader.

The deep mechanical voice spoke:  
  
“Prince Louis, we have need of you on the bridge.”

He was escorted none too kindly to the bridge of the enormous space station. Although Louis had seen the schematics of the Death Star, being on it was eye opening. Never had he thought the Empire would build something like this. Louis’ world revolved around democracy. This was a show of military strength, and Louis’ last hope was that the Senate was still around. It seemed that the emperor had given the military unprecedented power. 

The bridge of the ship sported wide, floor-to-ceiling windows like if you touched the glass, you could touch the space outside of it. As was the prison sector, everything was dark, swathed in red light. They were suspended in space, orbiting. 

“Governor Tarkin,” Louis said as he was marched past dozens of similar looking storm troopers, masked faces anonymous. 

“I should have known you were in command of this ship, holding Vader’s leash. I recognized your stench from the moment I was brought on board.” 

Governor was a title courtesy of the emperor who gifted his favorites with such titles as “lord” and “governor.” The galaxy was under Imperial rule, which meant military rule. Democracy was over. 

Tarkin was not a pleasant looking man. He was tall, thin, and had a permanent sour expression on his face. Unlike the stormtroopers, he was outfitted in a military uniform, his face on display. Louis had previous dealings with the man during his senate career, and they had never gotten along. Tarkin was as imperious as he was deadly. He was poised and conscious of how much power he wielded. Of course he would be the one chosen to run the Death Star.  
“Charming,” Tarkin said, brow raised. He came to stand before Louis, staring him down like a viper about to strike. Louis wasn’t afraid of this man, had known men like this his whole life. He stared back at him defiantly.

Vader was behind Louis, holding him still by the arm.  
“You don’t know how hard I found it, signing your death warrant,” he said, reaching out a hand to caress Louis’ cheek. Disgust coiled up Louis’ spine. 

“I’m surprised you had the courage to sign it yourself,” he said, wrenching his face away. 

“Prince Louis, before your execution, I invite you to be my guest at a ceremony that will make this battle station fully operational. No star system, no planet, no rebellion will oppose the emperor now.” 

Louis gave him a cold look. “The more you tighten your grip, the more star systems will slide from your fingers.” 

“Not after we demonstrate the power of this weapon,” Tarkin said, walking to the front of the ship. 

“In a way, you have determined which planet shall be the first to fall.”

Louis felt a sinking feeling in his chest. Surely he didn’t mean? 

“Do you recognize where we are, Prince Louis?” 

“You don’t mean to test the weapon on Aalderan? We are a peaceful planet we have no weapons!” Louis said, trying to struggle out of Vader’s iron grip. 

“Since you are so reluctant to name the Rebel base, perhaps this will persuade you? Name the location of the Rebel base,” Tarkin said.

Aalderan loomed in front of them, peaceful, unknowing. Louis didn’t even know if his parents were still planet side or if they had left when they heard about his abduction. His beautiful planet, where he had grown up, his people…

“Dantooine,” he said, his voice despairing. “The base is located in Dantooine.”

“There, was that so hard?” Tarkin said. “Commence with the operation,” he said, his voice hard. 

“What? I told you where the base was! You can’t do this!” Louis shouted.

“We’ll deal with your Rebel friends soon enough, but first, you will see the full power of the Empire. You have chosen the wrong side of history, Prince Louis.” 

Louis could only watch in horror as the Death Star powered up. He could feel the ship thrumming with restless energy. A single strong laster blasted out, and then the planet was pulverized. It happened in moments. One minute the planet was there, the next, it had disappeared. His mind was screaming at him. His body almost collapsed. 

“Take him back to his cell, Vader. Let him think on his actions. The next time we meet, Prince, it will be at your execution. Until then.” 

Louis was strong-armed back into his cell, which was unnecessary as he went without a fight. He felt as if he were a puppet with strings cut.  
He was deposited back into his cell, he heard the lock fall back into place. Louis raged. There was nothing to throw, nothing he could tear apart. His whole life, his planet, gone in an instant. Who would mourn for them? Who could stand against such a power? To have the power to destroy planets? Stars? Millions of people were dead. He knew it wasn’t his fault. Tarkin must have planned this way before they had captured him, but still his presence hadn’t helped Alderaan. He only hoped that his parents hadn’t been there, but he couldn’t know for sure. All of his aunts, uncles, friends, he sobbed. Was this the future that the Empire held for the rest of the galaxy? To stand against them was to die. For the first time, Louis felt truly hopeless. Even though the information he gave to Tarkin was old and the Rebel base no longer resided on Dantooine, it wouldn’t be long until they ferreted out exactly where they were. And once that was destroyed? How would they stand against something so vast. As he laid curled on the dark slab of metal they called a cot, he cried. It was all one and the same, he hadn’t cracked under physical torture, but now? They had destroyed everything he loved. It was not in his nature to give up. Even now, at the worst point of his life, he felt the anger and resolution inside him grow. Justice. His planet and his people demanded it, and he would see it done. No matter if he was to be executed that day, he would find a way. 

The door to his prison cell opened, and a stormtrooper walked in a bit unsteadily, his pistol cocked.

Louis sat up.  
“Aren’t you a little short for a stormtrooper?” Louis asked, eyebrow quirked. Might as well go out swinging, he thought.  
The stormtrooper in question took off his helmet, which Louis had never seen them do.  
A sandy-haired man Louis’ age stood before him.  
“I’m Luke Skywalker, I’m here to rescue you. I’ve got the R2 unit you stored the plans in and Ben Kenobi,” he said, beckoning towards him.  
“Obi-Wan Kenobi is with you?” Louis asked, already scrambling off the cot. He cursed the fact that the drapey fabric of his outfit hindered his progress.  
“C’mon,” Luke said. “We don’t have much time until they realize you’re gone.” 

Already, Louis heard sirens and the sound of stormtrooper feet marching. 

“I think we don’t have time at all,” Louis said as they ran down corridor after similar looking corridor. 

Just as they were about to turn towards what looked like an exit, a huge furry body barreled into them along with a tall man, also dressed as a stormtrooper sans helmet. Imperial troops were pouring out from the direction they had come from.

“I see you’ve managed to cut off our only escape route,” Louis muttered towards the man who had come to a standstill in front of him. 

“Oh, I’m sorry, Your Highness, do you have a better idea?” he spoke then, his voice irritated but deep. Louis immediately disliked him. 

He was looking for anywhere they could hide, the stormtroopers were shooting from every direction now. They wouldn’t survive this. He spotted a garbage shoot and snatched Luke’s pistol from his unsuspecting hands.

“Hey, what the hell are you doing!” the tall man yelled, but Louis ignored him. 

“Someone has to save our lives,” he yelled over the blaster fire. 

He kicked at the bullet ridden metal, forcing his hands to pry it apart. 

“Jump in the shoot!” he shouted at the man, and then he jumped. He slid about forty feet down, not knowing what was waiting for them. It was better than getting blasted to death or so he thought.

He plunged feet first into the garbage debris, Luke right behind him. A moment later and the furry thing, which Louis now recognized as a Wookiee, dive-bombed into the watery garbage, the other man clinging to it’s back.

Luke was already scrambling to find the exit, but the door wouldn’t budge. 

“Oh, this is great. What a wonderful idea! Now we’ll smell like garbage before we die,” the tall man complained, trying to get the door to open along with Luke.  
  
“The door is magnetically sealed.” Louis said, trying to think of a way to unmagnetized the lock.

“Not for long,” the man said, drawing his blaster pistol and aiming at it. 

“Don’t!” Luke shouted, but the warning went unheeded as he blasted the gun.

The bullet ricocheted around the room as they all took cover. Louis had fallen in the grimy water, and struggled to get to his feet.

“Put that gun away if you don’t know how to use it,” Louis said furiously. 

“We were doing just fine going by my plan, Your Worship. We certainly wouldn’t be in a garbage chute if it were up to me,” the man said, giving Louis a once over.  
“It could be worse,” Louis said, hands on his hips. 

Suddenly, the walls seemed to be moving. Louis grabbed onto the floating debris as the walls started to shake.

The man groaned. “Oh, it’s worse all right.”

“This must be some sort of trash compacter,” Luke said, trying to shove back the walls that were bent on crushing them. The Wookiee was making terrible groaning noises, yelling and screeching. Louis was having trouble keeping his head above the muck, being the shortest out of them all. The tall man saw his struggle and tried to lift him, Louis realized how delirious he must be, thinking of how the man’s biceps felt huge in his hands.  
Luke was frantically screaming into a com link, presumably to a droid. Louis was trying to stop the walls from moving to no avail while slipping under the piles. 

“R-2!!! Shut down the garbage compactors on the detention level NOW!” he screamed into the communication device.

Louis could barely hear the response from the com link, the walls were now pressing down on his body, the beams they tried to hoist snapping in half. He felt the man’s hand gripping him up, and he half-turned his face into his chest. 

Suddenly, the walls stopped moving, Louis eyes—which he hadn’t realized he closed—opened again, and he almost cried with relief. 

The taller man and Luke were yelling with sounds of strained relieved laughter, and the Wookiee shook his furry fists in the air. Louis moved back slightly, realizing he was extremely close to the man. He gave Louis a smirk, and Louis rolled his eyes. He saw Luke looking for the maintenance number on the hatch and began to move closer to the exit. “R-2 unlock the doors to the pressure maintenance hatch, number 4785,” Luke instructed. 

A few moments later and the hatch was unlocked, causing them and some of the garbage to tumble out. It had led them out to a silent corridor, no stormtroopers in sight. The two men shed their stormtrooper outfits, and despite himself, Louis had to admit the other man was attractive. Luke was boyishly handsome, but the man was taller and broader with devilish good looks, and his attitude said he knew it.  
Louis cleared his throat until the man looked at him. 

“Listen, I don’t know who you are or where you came from, but from now on, you do as I tell you, okay?” He was trying for an imperious tone, the one he used with men that wouldn’t take no for an answer. He had been in charge of military missions before with no casualties. This wasn’t any different.  
The man was smirking again, and Louis had the distinct feeling that he wasn’t going to listen to anything he said.  
He was strapping on a gun belt, tightening it around his waist, and handing Luke the spare gun belt. Louis felt himself flare up in annoyance. Of course he wouldn’t give it to him. 

He swaggered over to Louis, using the extra inches he had to loom over him. 

“Look, Your Highness, let’s get one thing straight. I take order from one person, ME,” the man said, jabbing a thumb towards himself.  
“Then it’s a wonder that you’re still alive,” Louis said, moving out of his way. 

They would either follow him or they wouldn’t. 

“No reward is worth this,” he heard the man mutter under his breath, and of course that’s why he was helping to “rescue” Louis. He felt a pang in his heart thinking that there could be no one left from his planet to even care if he was in danger. He cleared it from his mind, trying to focus on getting off of the ship. 

The corridor led them to a huge open bay window that showed the docking airspace. There were few Imperial ships and then a ship that had to be the one Luke came from. It was big and clunky, looking like it needed to be either salvaged for parts or completely destroyed.

“You came here in this? You must be braver then I thought,” he said to the man, drily. The man gave him a dirty look. 

“Listen, princeling, my name is Captain Harry Styles, and I’ll have you know I’m the best space pilot in the galaxy,” he said, arrogance coloring his voice.

Louis scoffed. “Is that even your real name?” he asked.  
Harry scowled at him and was about to reply when Luke grabbed them both, tugging them down another corridor. 

“It looks like we’re just below the terminal where the droid is waiting,” he said. 

Just as they reached the end of the hallway, rounding the corner, a group of stormtroopers appeared. 

“There’s the prisoner! Blast them!” one of them shouted. 

Before Louis could even react, Harry had his blaster out, shooting each stormtrooper in fast succession. 

“Get to the ship!” he yelled, still shooting.

“Wait, Harry!” Luke said, but the man was already firing his next shots, the Wookiee following behind him as they raced down the hallway. 

“Well, he certainly has some kind of courage,” Louis said, almost loathe to admit it. 

“And what good will it do if he dies? Come on, we need to get to the hangar,” Luke said, grabbing Louis’ hand.  
  
They ran down the opposite hallway that led to a narrow hatch they shimmied into and onto a bridge that had been retracted. They could hear the clamor of footsteps behind them, so Louis shut the blast door.  
“Ugh, there’s no lock!” he said, frantically checking the circuit board for anything that could help them. 

“We’re going to have to jump across since the bridge is retracted!” Luke said, fishing out a piece of cable from his belt. A shot glanced off the precipice they were standing on, stormtroopers were beside them on another narrow hatch opposite. 

Louis grabbed the pistol out of Luke’s hand. The boy was the worst shot he’d ever seen. Louis had studied self defense and aced his weapons training at a young age. He expertly shot the stormtrooper that was by the door and the other who had come up behind. 

Luke was looking at him in wonder. “I think I underestimated you,” he said, and Louis spared him a quick smile.  
Luke tossed the wire with a grappling hook attached on the end to the sturdy pipe across the chasm. He tugged it experimentally to see if it would hold. He then held out his arms for Louis to hold onto him. Louis squeezed his eyes shut as they jumped. They swung across the abyss to land safely on the other side. Louis let out the breath he was holding.  
“Lucky Luke,” he said, grinning. 

“Let’s hope the luck holds,” Luke answered back, already grabbing Louis’ hand to run down yet another brightly lit hallway.  
They finally made their way down towards the hangar, Harry’s ship still being patrolled by stormtroopers. 

“How are we going to get passed them?” Louis whispered. The Wookiee and Harry were across from them in another alcove and beckoned them over. The R2 unit that Louis had put the plans in was waiting beside them.

“There are too many troopers, we’d never make it,” Harry said, fingers steady on his gun.  
“Wait…look at that,” Louis said, pointing to where a hangar door had just opened revealing Darth Vader and another person, presumably Obi-Wan. They were dueling, lightsabers flashing.

The troopers that were surrounding the ship started moving towards the fight, distracted by the sight.

“Here’s our chance, let’s go!” Harry said. They began running for their place of hiding, watching as Darth Vader and Obi-Wan battled. Suddenly, the battle stopped, and Obi-Wan vanished as Darth Vader brought the lightsaber blade down upon him. 

Luke screamed from his position running next to Louis. He started to run towards them, but Harry pulled him back. 

“We have to go NOW!!” he yelled.

“I can’t leave him!!!” Luke was saying, but Louis grabbed him too, forcing him in the direction of the ship. 

“There’s nothing you can do for him, Luke. It will all be for nothing if we get captured now.” 

Louis kept firing as they ran, trading gunfire with the Imperial troops. They finally made it inside the ship, following Harry to the cockpit. Louis looked around him in distaste. This piece of junk was going to get them out of there? 

“Let’s hope the old man disabled the tractor beam,” Harry said, firing up the ship’s engines. The Wookiee stood, pushing switches and groaning. Louis wondered if Wookiees were all like this as a species or if this was a particularly nervous one. 

“And we’re off,” Harry said. The ship began to move, Louis felt the tell tale swooping in his stomach as it launched into space. He held his breath for the pull of the tractor beam, but it didn’t come. 

“We’re not out of the woods yet, there are incoming ships behind us. Luke, get in the rear side gunport, I’ll take the canons,” Harry said. 

Louis stayed with the Wookiee, who Harry had introduced as “Chewbacca.” Louis didn’t understand the language he used, never having interacted with the species before, but apparently, he knew how to pilot the ship because Harry left him in the cockpit. Louis adjusted his intercom link with the wavelength Luke left him. He felt the ship rock to and fro with incoming fire. He wondered how much longer the ship would hold together and thought it was better off he didn’t know. 

He couldn’t see Harry or Luke from his position but could hear their banter over the comm. He was staring at the ship’s readouts as Chewbacca maintained their frantic pace. 

“We’ve lost lateral controls,” he said into the comm.

“Don’t worry, she’ll hold together,” Harry said. In a quiet tone that Louis still heard, “Baby, please hold together.” 

Louis rolled his eyes. Of course Harry was the type to call his ship baby. 

The ship was shuddering with oncoming fire, but through the viewport, Louis could see Harry and Luke methodically destroying the fighter ships. He felt his hopes rising despite himself. 

Louis stood by Chewbacca, feeling dwarfed by his size. He continued to chatter in the language that Louis didn’t understand, but he could sense that it was positive. 

“We’ve got the last fighter!” Luke yelled victoriously.

“Chewie, make the jump into hyperspace!” Harry yelled. The Wookiee yelled something affirmative and held down one of the handles. 

Going into hyperspace was something Louis could never acclimate too. It was almost too fast for his body to adjust, but this time, he was thankful for it. They needed to get out of there as quickly as possible, but something was still niggling at him. They wouldn’t be let go so easily even if they had sent ships after them. 

Harry came swaggering into the cockpit, a grin on his face.

“Not a bad bit of rescuing, eh? You know, sometimes I even amaze myself.”

Louis couldn’t believe this man’s impressive arrogance.  
“That doesn’t sound like it could be hard besides they’re tracking us. Do you think they would let us go that easily?” Louis said, facing away from him. 

“Easy? You call that easy?” Harry asked, incredulous. 

“They’re tracking us!” Louis cried.

“Not this ship, sweetheart,” Harry said smugly.

Louis shook his head. He knew that they were being tracked. The Empire wouldn’t just let them go. They took every precautionary measure to ensure that they were always in power. 

“At least the information inside of the droid is still there,” Louis said, watching as the little droid beeped. 

Harry came closer, standing tall where Louis was leaning on one of the pilot’s chairs. 

“What’s so important about what it’s carrying?” he asked. Louis didn’t know whether it was genuine curiosity or if it was something else. 

“Stored inside of the memory banks are the technical readouts of that battle station we just left. I only hope that when the data is analyzed, there’s a weakness to be found. The battle isn’t over yet.” 

“It is for me,” Harry said. “Look, I’m not in it for this rebellion, or revolution, whatever you’re calling it. I’m in it for the money, plain and simple. I expect to be well paid!” he said, slapping his gloves down.  
Louis stood up to his full height, which was still several inches shorter than the other man. 

“You don’t need to worry about your reward. If money is all you care about, then that’s what you’ll receive.” 

He walked out of the cockpit as Luke went in, giving him a curious look. 

“Your friend is quite the mercenary. I have to wonder if he cares about anyone other than himself,” he said bitingly. 

“What happened?” Luke asked, but Louis just shook his head, not wanting to talk about it.

He waved him along as if nothing was wrong. He blew out his breath and set his head against the outside door. He could hear the voices from inside discussing him.

“…He’s got a lot of spirit. What do you think? A prince and a guy like me…”

Louis pushed away from the wall, disgusted by the conversation. Harry only cared about one thing and that was money. He made it clear as valerian crystal. Just because he was attracted to Louis didn’t mean anything. Louis knew that men like Harry only cared about getting their dick wet, one night stands were their speciality. He vowed to himself not to fall into that trap. He’d been there before, attracted to a man who only wanted one thing from Louis. He was annoyed at himself for finding Harry attractive. He was obviously some kind of low life that Luke had hired under false pretenses to “rescue” him. He shook those thoughts from his mind as he walked along the ship, searching for a spare room. He hadn’t slept in so long. He probably would find it hard to sleep even when he did find a bed. 

Everything had happened so suddenly. Meeting Luke, partially escaping from the Imperial ship, the constant knowledge that he would never go home, the death of Ben Kenobi…

His heart was heavier than it had ever been. His planet and his people had paid the price for his lie. He only hoped that the schematics in the droid were worth it, even now he wondered. He had been pinning his hopes on finding the old Jedi knight, someone who had served with his father during the clone wars. He was running thin on allies. First, he would get some sleep, no matter if he had to take a sleeping shot or not.

His room was small, Louis thought it wasn’t meant to be a stateroom at all, there were maps, bolts, and tools scattered all around it. What he did like was the window from where he could see space. If they weren’t moving at light speed, he could count the stars and planets as they orbited. He sighed, pressing his head to the glass. He wasn’t so sure going back to the base was a good idea, for all his bravado. He knew they had put a tracking device on the Millennium Falcon, but the ship was so big and such a lug of junk that they’d never be able to find it. He needed to get the plans back to the base, it was their only chance. He only hoped they’d have enough time to detect a weakness in the Death Star. 

“Knock knock,” Harry said, without even knocking. Louis rolled his eyes. 

“Yes? Do you need something?” Louis asked, not bothering to turn around. 

“Oh, I’m sorry, did I disturb Your Worshipfulness? Couldn’t find a mirror so you’re staring at your reflection in the window?” Harry mocked.

“Why, do you think I’m pretty?” Louis said as he swung around, giving a sweet smile and batting his eyelashes. 

Men like this were a dime a dozen, Louis thought disgustedly. “Actually, I was going to see if you wanted something to eat, but perhaps you’re too good to eat with us peasants,” Harry said, not bothering to mask his scorn.

Louis studied this man openly. He hadn’t got a chance to really study him. He was tall, his hair was a mahogany brown that looked like it needed a trim. He was handsome, which immediately put Louis on guard. It was always handsome men who KNEW they were handsome that grated on his nerves, thinking they could get anything because of their looks. His trousers were skin tight as was his white shirt, clinging to his biceps. 

“Like what you see, sweetheart?” Harry said, smirking. He walked closer to where Louis stood near the cot. 

Louis gave Harry the doe-eyed look men loved to see, it made them think he was nothing but a pretty face and nothing more. 

“I don’t know exactly what I’m looking at, but it doesn’t impress me,” Louis said in his most contemptuous tone. 

This close up, Louis could see Harry had the most beautiful green eyes, flecked with gold. It was an unusual color.  
“I know what I’m looking at,” Harry said, coming even closer to Louis. 

“Oh, and what’s that?” Louis asked.

“A spoiled brat used to getting what he wants and ordering men around. A prince who has led a very privileged life,” Harry jabbed a finger towards Louis’ chest. 

Louis’ blood was boiling. Usually he could keep his temper in check, it was one of the reasons why he was such a cool and collected senator. He could joust verbally with anyone, but he had worked hard to gain his position and not rest on his father’s laurels. For this random pilot, no, bounty hunter, to call him spoiled was too much. Prince was just a title in Louis’ opinion. And he had lost it, just as he had lost his home. 

“I’m no longer a prince, Harry. My whole planet was just destroyed, not that it should make a difference to you. Yes, I’m a prince without a planet, without family. Do you know how many years I served as a galactic senator? How many times people have tried to destroy me? My reputation? You know nothing about me,” Louis bit out. 

Harry looked as if he’d stopped breathing for a moment.

“Louis…” his voice drifted off like he didn’t know what to say.  
“Get out of my cabin,” Louis said firmly.

Harry obeyed his command, swinging the door shut behind him.

Louis felt frustrated tears prick behind his eyelids. He took a few calming breaths before laying down on the small cot. He looked up through the window where the stars were flying by, wondering if his father was seeing the same ones, if he was safe.

He dozed for awhile, not really sleeping until his hunger woke him up. He didn’t really want to go to the galley in case Harry was there, but he went regardless. 

He found Luke sitting at the table by himself. He smiled wanly at him as Luke made room for him to sit down.

“I’m sorry about your mentor,” Louis said after he had finished a bowl of porridge. He gently placed his hand over Luke’s. He didn’t know why, but he felt as if he knew him already. 

“I just can’t believe he’s gone,” Luke said, gripping his hand tightly.

“I know the feeling,” Louis said. He hadn’t even had time to mourn what he had lost.

They lapsed into silence.  
“We need to get to the Rebel base. Otherwise what Obi-Wan died for, all our sacrificed will have been in vain,” Louis said after a moment.

“I don’t remember signing up to take anyone to a Rebel base,” he heard Harry say. He was leaning up against the door panel so the ship must be on autopilot.  
“If you didn’t want to help the Resistance, then you should have stayed with the Imperial troops,” Louis said bitingly. 

“And get shot to death there? No thanks, Princess.” 

Louis bristled at the nickname. 

“We need to get the schematics to the base, it’s the only way we can study them to find a weakness in the Death Star.” 

“I don’t see how that’s my problem,” Harry said, staring Louis down.

“It will be your problem when that battleship forces every space system into compliance. There will be no rouge outlaws, Captain Styles,” Louis said, choosing Harry’s formal title deliberately.  
“You will not be able to make a living running bounty missions or whatever it is that you do. Don’t deny it,” Louis said as Harry made to say something. 

“I don’t care what you do for a living, but all peoples and all planets are at risk if we don’t find a way to destroy that station,” Louis continued.   
“I’m a pirate, sweetheart, thanks for asking. As long as there is money at the end of this rainbow, I’ll take you wherever and whenever you want,” Harry said, winking at him.

Louis rolled his eyes at the last comment. Why were men like him such pigs?

“Don’t worry, you’ll get a reward at the end of the day,” Louis said, disgust in his tone. 

Harry clapped his hands together. 

“Well, if all I have to do is drop you two off, then by all means let us go to the Rebel base.”

Luke had been watching them banter back and forth and wisely kept his mouth shut. Harry swaggered back off to change the course, and Louis sighed. 

“You know, I don’t really think Harry is that terrible of a person,” Luke spoke up. 

“I don’t know you very well, Luke, so I’ll let that comment slide,” Louis said. 

“No, I mean it,” Luke said earnestly, and Louis had to smile. He seemed very green and young in this moment although he had to be the same age as Louis. 

“He could have left us back in the hanger to the Imperials, but he didn’t. I think he’s honorable as much as a pirate can be.”

“I don’t trust him as far as I can throw him,” Louis muttered. 

“That can’t be too far considered he has at least five inches on you,” Luke said cheekily. 

“Shut up,” Louis said, but it held no sting. He knew he was tiny, and he liked it. 

“I had hoped that Obi-Wan would be able to help us. He was the last Jedi in existence,” Louis said, changing the subject.

The other man’s expression saddened. 

“He was training me, you know. I was going to be his Padawan learner.” 

Louis looked at him in shock. 

“You mean you’re a Jedi? Luke, that’s amazing!” he said as Luke blushed.

“I really don’t know much about anything, I was barely into my training, but I know the Force, I trust it. I only hope it can help in this fight,” Luke said, his smile dimming.  
“I know it will,” Louis said, beckoning him over for a hug. 

He felt that strange sensation again as if he knew Luke, although that was impossible. 

“I hate to break up this cozy scene,” a voice said sarcastically from the open doorway, “but I need Luke to help with some repairs.” 

Luke gave Louis one last squeeze and let him go. 

“Getting your claws into him already, Your Highness?” Harry asked. 

“I was just comforting a friend. I guess you must not know what that feels like,” Louis said, dismissing Harry with a cold look.

Harry put his hand over his heart as if Louis had wounded him.  
“You’re so harsh, my liege! Perhaps you need to relieve some tension…” he let his voice trail off suggestively. 

“The day I ask YOU to relieve tension is the day I lose all my wits and join the Imperials,” Louis said. “It will never happen” 

“Never say never, Princess,” Harry said, smirking.

Louis wondered if that smirk was permanently etched on his face. 

“You know, you can just call me by my name” Louis said.

“Where would the fun in that be?” Harry said, moving back towards the front of the ship. “Sweetheart.”

Louis sighed, sinking back down into his chair. Harry Styles couldn’t get out of his life fast enough. 

✶✶✶✶✶

They made good time to Yavin 4, even though Louis knew luck wasn’t on their side. He was sure the Death Star was following them, it would only be a matter of hours before they would show up as well.  
The Millennium Falcon soared over dense jungle, the heat of the tropics already fogging up the windows. 

“This is where your Rebel base is located?” Harry asked skeptically. He was in the pilot’s chair, scrutinizing the moon out of the view screen.

“It was the most secret place we could find considering it’s the fourth moon of the planet,” Louis said, taking no pains to defend the place. If it were up to him, they’d be somewhere cool instead of here. The place made you sweat as soon as you so much as moved outside. They would have to find another base after this, that is if they survived. 

The actual base was set up inside an ancient temple, so old no one knew from which civilization it came from. 

Harry landed the ship as quietly as he could in a patch of available land. 

He unstrapped himself from the pilot seat and got up to move beside Louis. 

“Wait, you’re coming with us?” Louis asked. He was so sure Harry would take off as soon as he had delivered them to the Resistance. 

“Have to get my reward, don’t I?” 

Louis shook his head in disappointment. What had he been expecting? Men like Harry didn’t change. 

Luke was already waiting outside from them with the droids. He smiled as he heard R2-D2’s happy chirp. Strange that their fates should rest on something so small. 

Commander Willard was waiting for them when they reached the temple. Louis hadn’t seen him in months, his hair was newly shot with gray, and there were lines on his face that hadn’t been there before. Before Louis could say anything he was being crushed in a hug. 

“Prince Louis! We feared that you hadn’t survived.” 

Louis cringed at his formal title but returned the hug. The commander composed himself and bowed formally to which Louis returned. 

“When we heard about Alderaan, we thought you had perished.”

“Any word from my father?” Louis asked, hoping that somehow he could have gotten word of his survival.

Commander Willards eyes were kind and compassionate. 

“We’ve lost contact with him,” he said, shaking his head. 

Louis felt the familiar pang of dread in his heart but couldn’t afford to dwell on it.

“We don’t have time for our sorrows, Commander. The battleship from which we’ve escaped has surely tracked us here. We need to study the schematics this droid holds to find a weakness. It’s our only hope,” he said. 

“Come, let us hurry,” the commander said, beckoning them all the follow him. 

Lous had been to the various temporary bases, but it never failed to astonish him when they reached the war briefing area. There were dozens of holographic readouts and star charts, some of them being shown on the temple walls. Their whole hope for the continuance of civilization was in this room. 

It was only a matter of minutes before the schematics for the Death Star were being displayed on the biggest screen. All around Louis were senators, pilots, navigators, all of the known Resistance fighters. It was less than two hundred people. He felt the atmosphere in the room change as copies of the plans were made and handed out on chips. 

He saw Harry and Chewbacca silently standing near the back of the room. He glanced over to find Harry’s eyes on him and quickly looked away. Why was he always feeling drawn to this man?

He waited for the squadron leader Captain Phelps to speak his piece as he walked to the front of the building crowd. Louis could hear the murmuring and anxiety mounting.  
The captain began to speak in a loud, clear voice. 

“The battle station is heavily shielded and carries a firepower greater than half the star fleet. Its defenses are designed around a full scale assault, but a small one man fisher should be able to penetrate that defense.”  
“So that’s the weakness of the Death Star?” a pilot asked.  
“The Empire doesn’t believe that a one manned fighter is any threat against a ship and a fleet as large as the have,” the captain said. 

“It will not be easy,” he continued. “The target is only two meters wide, it’s a thermal exhaust port. It’s located right below the main port where it leads directly to the reactor system. A precise hit will start a chain reaction which should destroy the station.”

A murmur of disbelief went through the crowd. They were expected to hit a target that small and that far away. It was almost impossible. 

Louis turned to look at where Luke had gone, but he was sitting with the pilots, listening attentively to every word.  
He heard someone next to him say, “That’s impossible even for a computer. They expect us to risk our lives for that?” 

Louis couldn’t fault him for that response. It was incredibly tricky and a huge risk to their small fleet. Who knows how many people would give their lives for the small chance of success. 

“Man your ships! May the Force be with you,” the captain said, dismissing the group. 

Luke walked over to him, already in uniform. 

“You’re going to go too?” Louis asked, heart sinking. He didn’t want to lose him after he had just found him. There was some kind of tenuous thread between them that he couldn’t figure out, but he wanted to. 

“I’ve always dreamed of being a pilot one day, and now is my chance.”

“Please be careful,” Louis said, grabbing him by the shoulders and gripping him tight. He closed his eyes feeling the threat of tears. Everything was happening so fast, too fast for him to keep up. 

Harry was there in front of them both when he opened his eyes. 

“So, you’re going to be leaving since you got your reward,” Luke said in a flat voice. He seemed more angry at Harry than Louis felt at the moment, which was saying something. It was strange to see Luke so cold, it was nothing like his usual personality. 

Harry shifted his body weight, side to side. 

“I have some debts to pay,” was all he said. Louis wondered why he had even bothered to come over at all. 

“We could use a pilot like you, Harry,” Luke said.

“Yeah, and what’s the use of a reward if you aren’t alive to use it, huh?” Harry asked. 

“Louis was right about you, you are totally selfish. I thought you would prove him wrong, but you didn’t. Take care of yourself, Harry. I guess that’s what you’re good at.”  
Luke didn’t even bother to say goodbye to Harry. He hugged Louis tightly one more time before running to the hangar where the TIE fighters were housed. 

Louis was left with a distinctly disgruntled Harry. 

“Ah, shit,” he said, running his hand through his hair distractedly. 

“I hope your reward was worth it, Captain Styles,” Louis said. He didn’t really know how to say goodbye to this man that in equal parts repulsed and compelled him.

“Look, I never apologized for what I said back on the ship,” Harry said when Louis made no move to say anything. 

“I don’t think you’re spoiled or high and mighty. I think you’re probably one of the least selfish people I’ve ever met. I’m sorry.” 

Louis softened a bit. 

“It’s alright—“ he started to say, but Harry interrupted him. 

“No, it’s not alright. I know what I am, Louis. I’m an asshole, and I’m selfish. People have always disappointed me and let me down, but you didn’t deserve what I said.” 

Louis was shocked, he had never expected this type of apologyfrom Harry. 

“Well, thank you,” he said a bit awkwardly. 

Harry stuck his hand out for Louis to shake. Louis slowly reach out to clasp his hand, feeling Harry’s larger one envelop his. Harry slid his hand further so that they were gripping each others’ forearms. 

“You almost make me want to be a better man,” Harry whispered, watching Louis’ face. Louis mouth parted in shock at the words, his eyes were fixated on Harry’s. This was as close to each other as they’d ever been to each other.

“I should say this stuff more often if that’s going to be the expression on your face,” Harry said, grinning. 

Louis rolled his eyes and let go of Harry’s arm. He didn’t even know if he’d ever see him again.  
“Goodbye, Harry,” he said.  
“Goodbye, sweetheart,” Harry said, finally turning away. 

Louis was left standing there in a bit of a stupor. He didn’t know why what Harry said had affected him so deeply. Perhaps He hadn’t realized that Harry might have had hidden depths he’d yet to see. Perhaps he’d misjudged him after all. And yet he wasn’t staying, he was leaving. Louis would have thought that perhaps seeing the Resistance in action would have compelled him to stay but apparently not. Louis didn’t know if people truly had the capacity to change when they were set in their ways. He shrugged off the feeling. He and Harry were from two different worlds only held together by chance. He watched Harry disappear out of view. Now there were bigger things to worry about.  
The atmosphere inside the base was chaotic. All the pilots had rushed to their fighters as they had spotted the Death Star outside the moon’s atmosphere. Louis hurried over to the huge display showing the planet and the four moons surrounding it. The dot that represented the Death Star was looming ever closer to where they were. Luke and all the pilots were represented by green dots, flying towards it. All of the pilots had comms where their chatter could be heard, and the members of the Resistance that had stayed behind in the “war room” could send messages through the generalized link.

This was where it would all go down. There was very little chance of success, Louis knew. The battle station had several hundred battle ships ready to deploy for defense whereas they had just a few fighter pilots. Already their pilots were behind shot at, their chatter to each other back and forth frenzied. 

Louis clenched his hands together, his nails biting into his palms. There was nothing he could do. He hated feeling so helpless. He tried to single Luke’s voice out of the others but couldn’t differentiate any of them. He sighed in frustration. It was killing him not to know what was going on.  
The technicians working on the monitors around him could see the signals from the battle fighters coming from the Death Star. They had just launched their squadron. Louis stood up and started pacing. 

There were three groups of fighters that were going to try and take out the Death Star. Red, Gold, and Luke’s as a last resort. They were grouped as small as possible as to not draw notice to where they were headed. If the leaders of the Empire knew there was a failsafe way to destroy the battleship, they would close ranks immediately and possibly even jump into hyperspace. This was their only chance. The other pilots not doing the run would distract the Imperial ships. Louis listened as Gold leader started the attack run. He watched the projected target screen intensely startled when three red dots appeared behind the gold squadron. 

“There are ships coming from behind! They’re firing at us! We can’t maneuver!” 

The panicked voices of the three leading the attack run came through the speakers. One by one their transmissions cut off and the green dots disappeared off the screen. The atmosphere in the war room become very still and agonized. Louis dropped his head into his hands. How could they possibly have known where the target run was happening? It was in between a trench of some kind, just small enough for a fighter pilot. Would they be watching as they sent their best pilots to their deaths?  
“Red Leader here, we’re going to try the run next.” 

In a few moments, Louis was waiting with bated breath as the next ships tried the same maneuvers. One by one, the green dots on the display disappeared until only Red leader was left. He managed to strike the outside of the port, but the hit was not direct. Louis was about to tear his hair out. There was only one person left to try, and Louis’ heart ached. If Luke didn’t succeed, they were all lost.  
The Death Star was now orbiting outside the planet, and Louis knew without a doubt they would be destroyed by the same method as his home planet. He clutched the side of a table, unable to process what was happening. Had he really come all this way only to be destroyed? And along with him, the Resistance?  
He could barely listen to the audio as Luke prepared to make the run. There was some underlying feeling that he was having, an itch beneath his consciousness. There was no way the Empire had figured out so quickly what their plans had been unless someone like Vader with his uncanny abilities had figured it out. Louis knew that Luke had been training under Ben Kenobi as a Jedi, the almost extinct order, but he had also heard that Vader was a Sith Lord, the opposite side of the coin. Louis felt his presence in what they were doing. He had always known that the Force existed, that he had some ability with it. He concentrated on it now, feeling the thread between Luke and him, tenuous but shining brightly in his mind. Between the bond, he sent reassurance and trust. He hoped Luke could feel it.  
The Imperial ships were hot on the Rebel ships’ heels. This was their last chance to try for the opening.  
One by one, the green lights on the board disappeared until only Luke’s was left. 

Louis could only imagine what it was like right now to be one of the last men standing.  
“Luke, you’ve turned off your computer, what are you doing?” 

The ship relied on the computer to target where the reactor was located, using exact numbers. 

Louis’ eyes flew open. Why the hell had he done that?

“It’s fine, I’m ok,” Luke said over the comm. The screen with the Death Star symbol showed that it was in range to target the moon. Louis felt an eerie calm come over him. If this was the end…

“I’ve lost my droid!” Luke yelled over the comm. “One of the Imperial ships has me in range! But I’m almost to the port.” 

Louis squinted as an unknown symbol appeared on the board. 

Two of the red dots around Luke vanished, shot down, the third following after. 

“You’re in the clear, kid!” a voice came over the transmission. 

It was Harry. He had come back. Louis felt a joy bloom within his heart as he grinned. He didn’t care if tears were brimming in his eyes, and his face must look crazed, Harry hadn’t abandoned them. 

“I’m firing!” Luke said, and the war room held their breath in anticipation. All they had was the communication devices, nothing was appearing onscreen.

“It’s a hit!” Luke screamed into his comm. 

Louis watched as the screen lit up. The Death Star’s symbol was winking in and out.  
“Oh my God, he really did it,” Louis said, and now he was freely crying. It was a one in a million shot, and Luke had done it. There were shouts and cries and copious amounts of tears in the war room. Louis only had one thing in mind. He raced down to the pilot hanger, anxiously awaiting the ships. There were fewer to return than had left, and Louis felt a pang in his heart which would never fully lift. Luke landed first, and it seemed like the whole Rebel base was in the hanger as he climbed down from his fighter. His eyes sought out Louis’, who had already made his way towards him. 

He picked Louis up, twirling him around as Louis laughed in unbridled joy. 

“I felt you through the Force,” Luke said, squeezing Louis tight. “I felt you send something, and I felt at peace even if I hadn’t succeeded.” 

Louis wanted to ask him if he felt the same bond between them, as if they had known each other all their lives, but it wasn’t the time. Everyone was coming up to Luke, patting him on the back, congratulating him. 

Louis spotted Harry, already embarked from his ship watching them from the outskirts. 

He hugged Luke one last time before letting him go with a squeeze to his bicep. 

“I knew there was more to you than a thirst for money,” Louis said as he came to stand in front of Harry.

“Did you now?” Harry said, one eyebrow arched. 

“You came back…I didn’t expect it,” Louis said quietly.

Harry brought up his hand to brush Louis’ fringe back, and Louis held his breath. 

“Some things are worth more than money,” he said, looking intently into Louis’ eyes. 

Louis hoped he wasn’t blushing. 

“The Resistance appreciates your help,” Louis said.

“I was hoping you would too,” Harry said.

Louis bridged the gap between them and hugged Harry. For a moment, he thought Harry wouldn’t move, but then warm arms were holding him close. Louis couldn’t begin to tell Harry how much it had meant for him to come back, for him to have helped save Luke’s life. He was sure if it hadn’t been for Harry destroying those ships, Luke would never had a chance.  
“Thank you,” he said quietly. 

They stood for a moment together until Luke came barreling into their sides.

“You’re going to miss the celebration!” Luke said as he watched them, oblivious to the tension.

Before they were to leave the base, the Rebels were going to hold a ceremony in honor of the fallen and those who had succeeded in destroying part of the Empire.

Louis stood at the forefront of the ancient temple, arrayed in all white. Almost all of the Allied Rebellion was in attendance. Tomorrow they would disperse, the work had really just begun, but tonight they would feast and celebrate.

Harry and Luke walked down the aisle as the troops stood to attention. Louis held the medals he was awarding them in his hands. The silver medal he looped around Luke’s neck, giving him a soft squeeze to the shoulder. The gold medal he placed around Harry’s neck. He had the cheek to wink at Louis while he did it.

They both turned and the applause started. Louis grinned at the display, his heart lightweight for once.

✶✶✶✶✶

Days after the Death Star defeat, Louis woke up in a cold sweat. He was having nightmares again. What his mind had done to protect him from the torture aboard the Imperial ship only extended to his waking hours. There was so much to be done as well. They had made a dent in the Imperial war machine, but it was by no means over. They had to pick another location for the base, seeing as this one was no longer secret. And then there was Harry. He didn’t know how long the man was going to stick around for. For all he knew, the past was just a fluke. But Louis remembered how he had felt in Harry’s arms and wondered at why he felt that way.  
He only knew a little about the Force, just enough to know that he felt it, as if it were in his blood. Luke had much more force sensitivity than he did from what he observed, and Luke was the last Jedi now that Ben Kenobi was dead. 

Louis blinked as the holo clock turned to 4 a.m. He heaved himself out of bed. If he couldn’t sleep, he might as well work. 

The base was rather open, letting the humid air of the jungle seep into every corner. Since they were on one of Yavin’s moons, it was never fully dark. Everyone seemed to be asleep as he walked to the war room, one of the only enclosed spaces. The lights came on when he walked in, the computers beeping as data streamed in. He found himself pouring over maps to Rebel-friendly planets and moons. They needed a location where it would be hard for the Imperial Empire to find them. Louis had no doubts that they were already planning for a second attack, a swift return using all their might. They could celebrate their success, but Louis knew if they became complacent that is when the Empire would strike. 

“All work and no play, eh Prince?” a voice from the door startled Louis into looking up blearily. 

Harry was carrying two stainless steel mugs filled with a steaming brew. Louis sniffed the air and grinned.

“You have coffee?” he asked, delighted. 

Harry swaggered over to where Louis was sitting. 

“If I knew that coffee was the thing to get into your good graces, I’d have brewed this for you before.” 

Louis tried and failed not let out a delighted laugh. He hadn’t had real, true brewed coffee in many months. 

He took a sip and reveled at the taste, closing his eyes. 

“Do you want to be alone with that?” Harry asked, voice warm and amused. 

“Thank you, Harry. This is so lovely,” Louis said, opening his eyes and noticing Harry had been staring at his lips. Caught, Harry made an aborted gesture with his own cup. 

“You’re welcome. Now, care to tell me what you’re doing up so early?” Harry asked, setting his mug down to tug the maps towards him. 

Louis’ eyes were level at Harry’s ribcage, the taut muscles showing through Harry’s thin shirt. Louis was distracted for a moment before blushing. Really, he needed to get a hold of himself. 

“Have you not been sleeping well lately?” Harry asked. 

Louis ignored the question. 

“These maps are planets and moons that are off the Empire’s radar. Not totally, mind you but enough that we can regroup. We lost a fair bit of men on the Death Star run,” Louis said the last part sadly. 

“I see you ignored my last question, but what about somewhere colder?”

“I was thinking the same thing myself,” Louis admitted. He was never one for hot atmospheres, preferring a mild climate himself. 

“It would be trading one extreme for the other,” Harry said, smoothing out his brow. Louis watched him for a moment, he still was getting used to the fact that Harry was here. Aboard the millennium falcon, he hadn’t the chance to really observe Harry.

“You’re a bit of an enigma, aren’t you?” Louis asked suddenly.  
“Who, me?” Harry asked. “Not as much as you, sweetheart.” 

Louis squinted his eyes at him causing Harry to huff.  
“Why are you awake right now?” Louis asked. “I know it’s not because you wanted to revise Rebel base locations.” 

Now that Louis was truly observing, perhaps thanks to the coffee, he could see that Harry looked tired as well. There was a strain around his eyes that hadn’t been there before. How much had coming back cost him? 

“I have a lot on my mind,” Harry said. 

“You know, we could be honest with each other” Louis said, shifting so that he was facing Harry who was hunkered over towards him, arms caging him in. 

“If I’m honest with you, will you tell me why you can’t sleep?” Harry asked. 

Louis bit his lip. 

“That’s what I thought,” Harry said, almost smug. 

“Oh, have me all figured out then?” Louis asked, scowling.  
“Not in the least, Princess,” Harry said, shoving off from the table and winking at him. 

God, that man was infuriating, Louis thought to himself. He could be sweet but then ruin it in the next moment with his arrogance. 

He spent the next hour choosing the outpost for the new Rebel base. The sooner they left, the sooner they would be safer than before. The anxiety he felt before simmered at a low pitch. 

It was a few hours later when most of the Resistance was awake and ready to discuss their next move. Louis was one of the Resistance leaders not out of choice but out of necessity. He was used to being in front of crowds of people, speaking his mind. The whole reason he became a senator was to speak for the people. He was shyer in his personal life, not a well-known fact. People assumed because he was opinionated and argumentative on the Senate floor, this translated to his personality, which wasn’t true. But Louis used this to his advantage. The more people thought they knew him, the more that he could surprise them. It was what helped him so much during his double agent career. 

Louis and the group of Rebel leaders decided upon the frozen planet of Hoth as the place they would regroup too. Certain members of the Resistance would try and recruit fresh blood to the cause. There had to be more people that wanted to be free of the Empire’s tyranny. 

✶✶✶✶✶

Louis didn’t know what he’d expected, a month later, when nothing was going as planned. The Rebels were still united, but relocating to a different planet, while a necessity, had proved that the same problems were still there. They were still running on less than a thousand people. And ever since they had relocated, Harry had been avoiding him. Louis didn’t know what to make of this. He had thought…well, it didn’t matter what he thought. He had felt something primal with Harry that he’d never felt with another man. 

He had yet to have a conversation with Luke about the Force like he wanted because there was no time. It seemed like time slipped through their fingers no matter how much preparation they did, no matter how far they tried to get out of reach of the Empire. It had the uncanny ability of always finding them. He had no doubt that they would discover where they were soon. They were recruiting but not as fast as he had hoped. They were training new pilots, but it was a slow and arduous process. He sighed as he looked up from the underground bunker office they called the New War Room. There were still the same star charts and computers bleeping merrily away, but it was the exact opposite of the climate on Yavin 4. Louis didn’t mind, was happy not to wake up every day already sweating, but he was prone to getting cold.  
Luke and Harry had gone out to scout if any Imperial ships or drones were planetside, but he noticed from the security bay cameras, only Harry had come back. He frowned.  
To speak of the devil, Harry had come in through the war room, making a beeline for Commander Phipps, head of the Rebel security. 

“Nothing out there, the sensors are in place. You’ll know if anything shows up that’s not supposed to be there.” 

The commander expressed his appreciation. Louis stood up to walk closer to where they were, pausing to look at the star charts, noticing how many meteorites kept falling to the planets’ surface. He heard Harry say quickly, “I have to leave.”

Louis froze. Surely he didn’t hear him say that. 

“I’m sorry to hear that,” the commander said. 

“Well, there’s a price on my head, and I need to pay off my debt,” Harry said, and Louis could hear the derision in his tone. 

“You’re a good fighter, Styles. I hate to lose you,” the commander said, and without looking, Louis knew that the two were shaking hands. 

Harry turned to walk out, noticing Louis for the first time. 

Louis would not cry, he would NOT cry about this man. 

“I guess this is goodbye, Your Highness,” he said with an underlying emotion Louis’ couldn’t identify. 

“I guess it is,” Louis said blandly. He couldn’t help it, he was angry. Couldn’t he wait until Louis could try to help him? He didn’t know what kind of price Harry had on his head, but surely this was something that was better taken care of together.  
“Well, don’t get sentimental on me, Princess. So long,” Harry said, annoyed. 

He walked out of the room, leaving Louis speechless. He hurried after him into the quiet, cold corridor. 

“Harry, wait,” he yelled, struggling to keep up with him. Damn his longer legs. 

“Yes, Your Highness?” 

Louis brushed off the impertinent nickname. 

“I thought you decided to stay?” he asked, despite knowing what Harry was going to say. 

“There’s a bounty on my head, and now bounty hunters on my trail wanting to get the reward. I have to pay my debt, or otherwise I won’t be of use to anyone, least of all myself.”

“We need you,” Louis said.

“We? What about what you need?” Harry said, stalking closer to Louis, putting no distance between them. 

“What I need? I don’t understand,” Louis asked.

Harry huffed out a small laugh. 

“You probably don’t.”  
Louis was getting fed up with his vague answers. 

“What precisely am I supposed to know?”

“You want me to stay because of how you feel about me,” Harry said.

Louis brow crinkled. 

“Well, yes. You’re a natural leader and a great fighter. That’s a great advantage for us.”  
“No, that’s not it, and you know it, Louis. Think about it.” 

Louis jolted at the use of his name, something that Harry rarely used. Understanding dawned on him. 

“You—you’re imagining things,” Louis said, unsteadily. He had hardly had time to examine his feelings about Harry, but it was obvious to him it was just a passing phase. Wasn’t it? 

“Oh really? Is that why you ran after me then? Afraid I’d leave without giving you a goodbye kiss?” Harry asked mockingly. 

The nerve of this man, Louis thought. 

“I’d much rather kiss a Wookiee!” Louis shot back, putting distance between them. Harry was so damn arrogant, how dare he try and presume to know what Louis felt and thought.  
“I can arrange that! You could use a good kiss!” Harry yelled after him. For a moment, Louis almost turned back. Should they really part ways like this? He turned around only to see Harry striding down the corridor, swagger back in place. He shook his head. It was probably better off this way. 

He walked back into the war room, avoiding everyone’s eyes. Surely they had heard the argument, they weren’t exactly being quiet. 

He frowned at the hangar bay, seeing that Luke’s mount was still missing. He should have been back by now…

“Commander, can you send Luke a message telling him to come back? It’s getting late,” he said, calling out to the commander who was bent over a computer. 

“That’s what I wanted to tell you, Louis. He’s not answering any of our hails.” 

Dread crept into Louis’ heart even though it had been lurking there. He couldn’t lose Luke.  
“Can you send some patrols out there to see if he’s injured?” Louis asked. 

“The storm outside is raging too badly for us to spare anyone. We’ll have to wait until the wind dies down.”

Louis bit his lip and turned away. He didn’t have any right to be mad at the commander, but he felt like something was wrong. He walked towards the hangar bay where the huge doors were still open and would be closed soon as dark approached. 

Had Harry already left? He searched for the Millennium Falcon, letting out a relieved sigh when he saw it was still there. He frowned, not spotting Harry anywhere. 

When he finally made his way towards the ship, he saw Chewbacca aimlessly pacing outside.

“Where’s Harry?” he asked. He had been getting better at the nonverbal cues with the Wookiee, even thinking that the large intelligent creature viewed him as friendly. Chewbacca yelled and pointed out into the swirling snow and ice outside the hanger. 

“Oh no…don’t tell me he went to look for Luke,” Louis said, imagining how impossibly cold it would get after dark. 

Chewbacca roared in agreement. 

Louis moved towards the hanger bay doors, shivering uncontrollably as he got near the entrance. They kept it open during the day, but it would close soon, no one going out or in after dark. They didn’t know if the planet was inhospitable to other species that liked the cold. Louis didn’t want to think about Luke being attacked by any of them. He began pacing back and forth, wondering what could have happened. His anxiety was at an all time high, he had to force himself to take deep breaths. Getting anxious wouldn’t solve anything, but he was worried.  
He felt a hand on his arm tug him gently backwards. He turned to face one of the pilots who had a kind look on his face. 

“We have to shut the doors now. As soon as it’s light again, we’ll send out a search team.”

Louis reluctantly nodded, knowing that it was the safest option. Luke and Harry were on their own for now. 

The steel door creaked to a close and the lock slid in place. It looked like it was going to be a sleepless night again. 

He went back to his small little room and debated whether to keep working on the Rebel plans. He was compiling a list of all the planets who wanted to overthrow the Empire, planets and people that weren’t resistant to the Rebel cause. He had to go over so much intel that most of the time it left him with a blinding headache, but he needed the distraction. His room was basically a bunker with no light from the outside. He had forgotten how much he loved being in the open air until it was denied to him. He hoped the next Rebel base planet would be more like his beloved Aalderan. The name still sent a pang through his heart. It had been months with still no word or sign from his father. Louis had accepted that he was probably dead. His whole planet, his entire people gone. It was something he tried not thinking about, he couldn’t undo the destruction the Empire wrought. 

He worked until he fell into a restless sleep dreaming of fire and ash. 

A knock upon his door woke him from his restless slumber. 

“Louis! They’ve found Harry and Luke! They’re in the medical bay!” a voice said. It was one of the Rebel aides. 

Louis hurriedly changed his clothes and swung his door open wide. The Rebel aide was a gangly teenager who grinned at him. 

“I’ll escort you there,” he said, bowing slightly.

Louis, whose good humor was returned, smiled at him warmly, making the young boy blush. 

“I’m sure I don’t need help finding the medical bay, but thank you,” Louis said, watching as the aide, who was several inches taller than him, puff out his chest in pride. 

“Nevertheless, I will escort you. I was training to be a bodyguard before all of this happened,” he confided.

“Alright, lead the way, but tell me your name, please,” Louis asked politely.

The boy beamed and gestured for Louis to walk ahead of him. 

“It’s Green. Lt. Green. The military ranking isn’t necessary, but that’s how the keep track of us. A lot of us were political aides or students, and now we’ve really come up in the ranks.” 

The medical bay was not too far from Louis’ room, and he quickened his pace into the medical surgery seeing Luke propped up in one of the beds. 

“Oh, thank you Lt. Green. I hope to see you around,” Louis said, watching as the boy turned red and stumbled over himself. 

“I see you’ve gained yet another admirer,” Luke said, with a croaky laugh. 

Louis rolled his eyes.  
“And I see you’ve gotten yourself into trouble again,” Louis said, eying Luke’s wounds. There were abrasions on his face and arms, but he seemed in good shape thankfully.

“No trouble that I couldn’t drag him out of,” a voice said from the doorway. 

“Don’t think I didn’t see that young man blushing and falling over himself for you,” Harry said, making his way to where Louis was perched on the bed. 

“Looks like you can’t get rid of me yet,” he continued, winking at Louis.

“That wasn’t my doing. Commander Phipps says it’s not safe for any ships to leave the system until we turn on the defensive shield,” Louis said. He would NOT get flustered by this man.  
“That’s a good story, but I think you just can’t bear to let a gorgeous guy like me go,” Harry drawled.

“I don’t know where you get your delusions, Styles, but it’s getting to be too much even for you,” Louis said.

Luke snorted into his hand, grinning. 

“Oh, laugh it up, blondie, you didn’t see us alone in the northwest passage earlier,” Harry said, smirking. 

Luke raised his brow indicating his disbelief.

“He expressed his true feelings for me,” Harry said, smirking. 

Louis, despite himself, flushed. He should be used to Harry’s innuendos and the way that he took things out of context. Louis barely even knew his own feelings yet. How did Harry have the gall to pretend that he was chasing him around.  
“I did no such thing! Why you…scruffy-looking, dull-witted, nerf- herder!” he said hotly, standing up from his chair. 

“Who’s scruffy-looking? Must have hit close to the mark if I have you riled up like this,” Harry said, his piercing gaze tearing through Louis’ defenses. How dare he use Louis’ attraction towards him as a weapon! His vulnerability wasn’t something to take advantage of. 

His expression turned coy as he sidled over towards Harry. 

Immediately, Harry’s expression turned seductive as if this happened to him all the time. He leaned forward, almost touching Harry’s chin with his lips, his eyes cast downward until he fluttered them up. 

“Shows how much you actually know me, Styles,” he said and turned and marched back around to give Luke a messy kiss on the mouth. 

Harry’s mouth was open as he stared at Louis, almost causing Louis to laugh. Luke was also momentarily stunned until he grinned. 

Suddenly, there was the sound of a siren and the loudspeaker came on. 

“Headquarters personnel report to the Command Center.” 

“That’s us,” Harry said, already half way out the door. 

“Feel better,” Louis said to Luke, who waved a half-hearted goodbye. 

He doesn’t like missing out on the action, Louis thought. 

Inside the war room, the commander was wearing a grim expression. 

“We have a visitor,” he said, playing the signal that was being broadcast by something on the planet.  
“That doesn’t sound like an Alliance code,” Louis said.

“It’s moving outside the base, something made of metal,” the commander said. 

Harry was also listening intently. 

“I’ll take Chewie and we can go check it out. It could be friendly.”

“Or you could be throwing yourself headfirst into danger,” Louis said. 

“I’m touched you care so much, Prince,” Harry said sarcastically. 

Louis bit his tongue. He couldn’t quite find equal footing with him, it was either hot or cold. He didn’t know how to feel about it. 

In the end, Harry got his wish. He set out along with Chewbacca to see what they could find. 

Through the comlink, several minutes later, Harry said, “There was a probe droid, but I destroyed it. It’s a safe bet that the Empire knows we’re here.”  
Louis was familiar enough with the dread that sunk down to his toes. He had hoped they would have just a bit more time.  
“There’s something else on the horizon though…” 

Harry’s comlink went static-y. 

“A group of metal droids are coming towards the base. It looks like they’re destroyers.”

“Harry, come back now,” Louis said, distress evident in his tone. 

“Will do,” the comlink shut off. 

“We’re going to have to evacuate,” the commander said. 

“They’ll be on this place in no time.” 

“Yes, I agree,” Louis said, “but we have no fall back place to go.” 

“We’ll have to split up. It will be harder to fight us all if we’re scattered. We have to regroup.” 

“We’ll get the Rebel transport ready and notify the pilots. Maybe they can fight the Imperial walkers. I’m assuming that’s what they are.” 

The Imperial walkers were huge machines that could fire laser cannons. The base didn’t have the kind of defense to ward them off. 

The sirens began to howl as they solidified their plans. Louis stayed in the Command Center as one of the last members of the council. He couldn’t abandon his post until he saw that everyone was safe. He knew that Luke was probably going to try to pilot one of the ships to attack.  
As the Imperial walkers gained more ground, the underground bunker began to shake. Snow began to drift in from outside. Yet the computers held. Louis monitored the movement of the Rebel transports, hoping they could break through the atmosphere and get to safety. Part of the room began to cave in, but Louis didn’t take notice. 

He’s surprised when Harry appears beside him, taking his arm. 

“You’re still here?” he asked. He was sure that he would have left by now. He was the first one to see how the base wouldn’t survive an attack. 

“I heard the Command Center had been hit,” Harry said.

“Don’t worry, you have your clearance to leave,” Louis said, waving his hand. 

“Yeah yeah, don’t worry, I’ll leave, but first I’m going to see you get on a ship.” 

Louis spoke into one of the universal comms. 

“Send all remaining troops to Sector 12 to protect the transports.” 

The Command Center was rocked again by an explosion before the loudspeaker came on. 

“Imperial troops have invaded the base.” 

“Come on!” Harry said, trying to get Louis to budge. 

“Give the evacuation code signal,” he yelled to the last controller. Louis and Harry raced out to the corridors, but before they could get to the transport, the base was hit again, causing the hallway to cave in. 

Louis was pushed back into the wall, leaving him breathless. 

Harry took out his comlink. 

“Transport, this is Styles. I can’t get to you, but I’ll get the prince out on the Falcon.”  
Harry was up before Louis, grabbing him by his arms and heaving him up. Louis marveled at his upper body strength. He was hopped up on adrenaline. 

“Come on, we have no time to lose,” Harry said.

They were running again as the walls shook and snow fell, causing them to slip. Louis couldn’t count the amount of times Harry had to pull him up as he slipped on ice. 

They made it to the hangar just as the hallway collapsed behind them.  
Chewbacca was already on board, moaning and desperately trying to fix the switches. 

Louis wasn’t pleased to be back aboard if he was being honest. He didn’t trust that it could hold itself together. 

Harry was in the cockpit standing before the control panel, muttering to himself. 

“This bucket of bolts won’t get us past the Imperial blockade,” Louis said, watching as multiple lights were going on and off in warning. 

“This baby’s got a few surprises left in her, sweetheart,” Harry said. 

Out of the cockpit window, Louis could see a squadron of Imperial troops running into the hangar. 

“We’ve got a problem!” Louis shouted, as he strapped himself into the navigator’s chair. 

Harry was already in the pilot’s seat, revving up the engines. 

Chewie must have gone up to the laser cannon on the ship because Louis heard the tell tale sign of the cannon firing up and a bolt of energy zap the squad of troops. 

“Come on, Come ON,” Harry yelled, trying to get the ship’s engines to fully come on. He drew back on the controls, grinning when the ship began to lift off. 

“See?” he said cockily towards Louis.  
“Someday you’re going to be wrong, and I hope I’m here to see it,” Louis muttered underneath his breath.  
They exited out of the hanger as more troops exploded through. Chewbacca yelled loudly.

“Yes, I know there’s fighters behind us, we’ll have to try and outmaneuver them.” 

Louis had to hand it to him, Harry was an excellent pilot. He worked mainly on nerve as with most things, but they were in the planet’s atmosphere now, heading out towards the black space. 

“We’ll have to go to lightspeed,” Louis said, as they made another dizzying turn trying to outrun the fighters behind them. 

“Chewie! Take us into hyperspace!” Harry, yelled, his movements becoming even more erratic. 

Chewbacca pulled the lever and nothing happened. Louis looked back as the Wookiee looked at it in shock. 

“That’s not a good sign,” Louis said. 

Harry looked back quickly at the lever that was supposed to be sending them into hyperspace. 

“Shit, it must have been damaged. Here, take the controls while I try to fix it.”

Louis unbuckled himself racing over to the board. He had never piloted a ship before, but he had studied mechanics of star ships. 

“Hey, be careful with her,” Harry said meaningfully. 

Louis rolled his eyes internally. As if he would break the ship. 

He heard Harry and Chewbacca quarreling in the background, the sound of tools. They were getting hit by small laser fire, which Louis was trying to avoid. A thump rocketed the ship forwards, and Louis’ eyes widened.  
“Harry, you need to come see this,” he yelled through his comlink. 

“Asteroids,” he said when he felt Harry’s presence behind him.  
“A whole asteroid field,” Harry said thoughtfully. 

“Wait, you’re not thinking of going through that are you? You’re crazy!” Louis said.

“Well, then they’d be crazy to follow us in there right?” he said, shooing Louis away from the controls. Louis let go reluctantly. 

“You know, you don’t have to do this to impress me,” Louis said. Harry gave him a sharp grin, and they were through. 

“The odds of us surviving through this aren’t good,” Louis said, though his teeth.

“Never tell me the odds,” Harry said, archly.

“You are one arrogant son of a bitch aren’t you,” Louis said, no question in his tone. 

They weaved through the asteroid field, the fighters still in pursuit. 

“I was hoping they wouldn’t follow us through here. They must want you dead pretty badly,” Harry said, eyes fixed on the debris around them. Smaller asteroids were colliding with bigger ones, showering dust particles. Louis sat with his hands clenched together in his lap.  
“The Star Destroyer is following us into this,” Louis said, looking at the control panel. “It’s big enough that the smaller asteroids don’t even put a dent into it.” 

“Fuck,” Harry said succinctly. 

“Can you admit that this was a stupid idea?” Louis asked, knowing Harry probably wouldn’t reply. 

“You said you wanted to be around when I made a mistake, sweetheart. This could be it,” Harry said. He was trying to maintain control of the ship without running into debris.

The asteroid belt became denser, more of them coming quickly and closer. They began to knock against the ship, causing sparks to fly from some of the controls. 

“We’re going to get pulverized if we keep flying around in here. If not the asteroids, then the Star Destroyer behind us,” Louis said, even though there was nothing they could really do. 

“I’m going to try and get close to one of the bigger ones,” Harry said. 

“Closer? Why?” Louis asked.

Harry made no response, only jerked the ship towards one of the moon sized asteroids. The ship swooped up and over. 

“Yes, this will do nicely,” Harry said. 

“What will do nicely? What are you planning?” Louis asked. 

The surface of the asteroid showed large craters, big enough for ships to fly through. 

“I sure hope you know what you’re doing,” Louis said as the descended into one of the the darkness absolute.

“Yeah, me too,” Harry replied. 

They flew through the crater and it’s cave-like atmosphere. Harry turned down one of the alleys, landing the ship and turning off the electronics. Louis unstrapped himself from the navigator’s chair as Harry got up. 

“This should hide us for awhile at least until I can fix the hyperdrive,” Harry said. 

The ship lurched even though it had landed. 

“This seems like a bad idea,” Louis said, feeling dread. He had learned to trust his gut and his feelings. 

The ship shook again more violently this time, and Louis was thrown against Harry, who caught him in his arms. 

All at once, the motion stopped. Louis realized that he was still in Harry’s arms.  
He flushed, moving to get out of the embrace. 

“Shhh,” Harry said, holding him tightly. This close up, Louis could see the sharp line of Harry’s jaw, the scruff on his chin. His head was positioned close to the other man’s throat, he could see the tendons working as he swallowed.  
He didn’t want to be this close to Harry. He smelled his cologne, which reminded him of spice and the forests of Alderaan. It made him want to sink into his arms and just be held, but he knew better. Despite his attraction, he didn’t trust Harry fully. 

“Let go, please,” he said, although his eyes were on Harry’s lips.

“Don’t get excited,” Harry said, and Louis flushed in anger. 

“Of all the people I had to be stuck with,” he said, pushing Harry with all his strength, forcing him to drop the embrace. 

He stood up with his hands on his hips.

“Being held by you, Captain Styles, isn’t enough to excite me,” Louis snapped.

Harry stood up too, towering over Louis. 

“I’m sorry, sweetheart, we don’t have time for anything else,” he said, grinning wickedly before leaving through the doorway. 

Louis stood there looking after him, shaking his head in annoyance. 

Harry always had to get the last word. The man was insufferable. 

Yet very handsome and attractive, his traitorous inner voice chimed.

He sighed and went to see what he could try and salvage of the ship. He was surprised that this class of ship had held together this long. Perhaps it wasn’t so bad after all. Walking through the spaces, he could tell it was well-loved, if not ready to fall apart. Louis grinned, maybe it WAS the perfect ship for Harry.

He found where the power valves were located, seeing that some of them had stopped working, dead parts in the engine. There was a small welder machine hastily placed on the ground that he assumed he could use to weld new ones back together. It took him some time searching the other areas of the ship, but he found the parts he needed. This really was like a space junker, he thought to himself. There was a quality almost like a patchwork design. He’d never been on a ship like it. He thought wistfully of his own ship, now probably being junked itself for parts. He was an alright pilot but not trained for flying smaller fighters. He didn’t particularly like flying himself, but there was a freedom in it unlike anything else. If you had a ship, you could go anywhere in the galaxy, even to places uncharted. 

The welder’s mask he found was too big, but he put it on anyway. He couldn’t find any gloves, so he resigned himself to the cuts and bruises that most like would happen. After he welded the parts, he took the helmet off, setting it on the ground. If he was right, he could turn on the switch and the system would re-engage. 

He tried turning the lever, but it wouldn’t budge. He tried with two hands, huffing when it still wouldn’t move. A large hand came from behind him, using more strength. Louis pushed his elbow back, trying to get space. He was annoyed that Harry was always trying to one-up him.

“Hey, Your Worship, I was just trying to help,” Harry said, backing away, hands in the air. 

Louis turned around to him.

“Would you stop calling me that?” he said, pulling the lever again. He looked back at the control panel, inexplicably angry. 

“Alright, Louis,” he heard Harry say quietly. 

He felt something inside him soften a bit. 

“You make it so difficult sometimes,” Louis said, eyes still on the lever.  
He heard Harry chuckle from behind him, closer now. 

“I really do, but you could be a little nicer too,” he said silkily. 

Louis rolled his eyes and didn’t answer him. 

“Hey, admit it. Sometimes you think I’m alright,” Harry said, now propped up beside him.  
Louis let go of the lever, his hand sore from trying too hard to pull it one way. 

“Sometimes, when you aren’t acting like a scoundrel,” he said with a small smile.  
“Scoundrel? I like the sound of that,” Harry said teasingly. 

He took Louis’ hand in his, rubbing the sore spot with his thumb. 

Oh, Louis thought to himself, this is trouble. 

Harry was looking at him intensely, the touch on his hand felt amazing. Louis wanted and was afraid of the desire. 

“You should stop that,” he whispered.

“Stop what?” Harry asked, inching closer to him. 

“My hands are dirty,” Louis said, although he made no move to take his hand away. 

“My hands are dirty too. What are you afraid of?” Harry asked. 

If only he knew, Louis thought. There were more things to be afraid of than not. Right now, he was afraid of giving in to Harry. 

The look in Harry’s eyes was piercing. As if he could see inside Louis’ mind, read every thought on his face. Every reason why he shouldn’t be standing here inches away from this man turned to dust and crumbled. 

“You’re trembling,” Harry said, the touch of his hand lingering. 

“I’m not,” Louis said, lying through his teeth. 

Harry drew himself even closer until they were almost a breath apart.  
“You like me because I’m a scoundrel. There aren’t enough scoundrels in your life,” Harry said huskily.  
“I happen to like nice men,” Louis said, tilting his head up.

“I’m a nice man,” Harry said. He had dropped Louis’ hand to gather him up in his arms. Louis grabbed at his bicep, not knowing if he wanted to stop him or not. 

“You’re not…” Louis denied.

And then Harry was kissing him. It was beyond what Louis had ever imagined kissing Harry would be, which he was embarrassed to say he had thought about.  
Harry was kissing him slowly, Louis’ eyes had already drifted shut, his body bending backwards until he hit the circuit board. Harry kissed like he talked, slow and deep. Louis gasped when they broke apart, trying to come up with something to say, but he was breathless. 

Before Harry could kiss him again, Chewbacca was in the room, yelling something unintelligible to Harry. Louis startled but took the moment to slip out of Harry’s arms, too flustered. He needed to get his thoughts in order, to remember why kissing Harry was a bad idea.

“Well, thank you very much,” he heard Harry say.

God, what a mess he found himself in again. He could deny it all he wants, but there was something about Harry that he liked, admired even, but he wasn’t sure where Harry’s real loyalties lay. He was a pirate and a smuggler with no ties to the Rebels. Of course he was against the Empire because they threatened his livelihood, but what would happen if they ever gave him a deal? Would he give them up for money? But at the same time, he had come back for them, he’d stayed as long as he could. Louis had done some digging himself to find that the price on Harry’s head was inordinately large, and the bounty was being paid by Jabba the Hut, a particularly nasty breed of gangster.  
  
In the end, Louis couldn’t blame him for wanting to leave when he knew the circumstances leading him to wonder why exactly Harry came back in the first place. Did he suddenly grow a conscious, or did he actually care? Did he feel something for Louis that wasn’t just lust because beneath the simmering attraction, Louis did find himself growing fond of the space pirate despite his objections. And it was something that scared him. 

Something thumped against the ship, causing Louis to lose his train of thought. The noise happened again, and Louis stepped back. There was something moving against the ship. 

He ran back along the corridor searching for Harry. He found him changing the floor panels, the lights suddenly winking in and out. 

“There’s something out there!” Louis said, anxiety creeping into his voice. 

“What?” Harry asked, wiping his hands on a rag. 

“There’s something outside in the cave, moving against the ship,” Louis said.

Harry frowned. “I’ll go out and look then.”  
“Are you crazy? You don’t know what it is!” 

“I just got her back together. I’m not letting something else tear it apart,” Harry said.

This time, more distinctly, they could hear a banging on the ship. 

Chewbacca yelled anxiously. 

“Then I’m coming too,” Louis said firmly. 

Harry grabbed one of the breath masks hanging on the wall, putting one on himself and handing the other one to Louis. 

Harry lowered the ramp, and Louis cautiously looked out. The cave was dank and foggy. He crept outside placing one foot in front of the other. The ground felt strange, not firm or solid. 

“This ground doesn’t feel like rock at all,” he muttered.

“There’s an awful lot of moisture in here,” Harry said, still frowning. 

“I have a bad feeling about this,” Louis said.  
“I feel the same,” Harry said, walking closer to Louis. 

There was something crawling on the ship. Louis squinted to see it better. 

“Watch out!” Harry said, raising his pistol to shoot at it. 

The thing let out an ungodly sound and fell to the floor. 

“What is THAT?” Louis said. 

The creature was dead, looking like a bat and a bird hybrid. The skin was leathery, and the body of it was long. 

“A mynock,” Harry said, lifting up the wing of the creature. 

“What is that?” Louis asked again. 

“We need to go NOW,” Harry said, ushering Louis back up the ramp. 

There was a swarm of the creatures as they fled back to the ship, Louis was covering his head as they swooped down. Harry was blasting at them, swearing under his breath. 

The main hatch closed behind them as they ran towards the cockpit. Chewie was already there, preparing for take off.

“Let’s get out of here!” Harry urged.

“But the Empire is still out there waiting for us. Is it wise to leave so soon?”  
Harry was rushing around pushing buttons, setting co-ordinates. 

“No time to discuss this in a committee, sweetheart.” 

The ship had started to shake even more than when they had first landed. 

“I am not a committee!” Louis said, in an annoyed tone, running after Harry. The man never told him what he was doing. Was he supposed to just go along with his plan? He had another thing coming if he thought so. 

“You know, you could treat me like an equal instead of calling me pet names all the time,” Louis said. 

Harry looked up from where he was now strapping himself into the pilot seat. Louis saw his hand on the lightspeed control… 

“You can’t make the jump to light speed in an asteroid field.” 

“Sit down, sweetheart. We’re taking off.” 

Louis huffed but did as he said.  
They lifted off the ground, gaining speed. The cave seemed shaky, bent on collapse. Through the front window Louis could see the cave opening, two rows of staglemites.

Harry pulled hard on the throttle, rocketing them forward.  
“The cave is collapsing!” Louis said. 

“This is no cave,” Harry said in a grim voice.

“What?”

Louis looked at the twin rows of rocks ahead of them, and his eyes widened. They weren’t rows of rocks but rows of TEETH. 

“Are we in somethings MOUTH?” he yelled, but his voice was swallowed up by Chewbacca yelling in fear. 

Harry dove the ship towards the side, barely making it out. 

Louis’ let out a sigh of relief that was short lived. The asteroid field was even more crowded and dense than when they had first entered. It was asteroid rain. Small asteroids plonked against the hull, Louis didn’t wish to know if any of the ship was deteriorating, the metal pushing inward. 

“Look, we only have to stay in this for a few minutes, I can see empty space from here,” Harry said, clutching the controls. 

Louis wanted to close his eyes, fearing a deadly hit at any moment. 

“SHIT!” Harry said.

The ship had been hit, but not by an asteroid. The Imperial ship had been waiting for them on the other side. Another bolt of laser fire hit them. 

“We need to get out of here. Ready for light speed, Chewie? Three, two, one!” 

He pushed the lever, but the ship didn’t move. 

Louis looked at him with a blank stare.

“It didn’t work, did it?” 

Harry pulled back on the throttle again.

“It should be working, dammit! The transfer circuits have been repaired. This is not my fault!”

Chewbacca yelled incoherently in the background

Harry turned to him angrily. “Yes, I know we’ve lost the rear reflector shield, one more hit and the ship might be done for.” 

He looked at the controls for a moment, a grim expression on his face. Louis had never seen him like this. He gave him a hard time for being a pirate, but Harry was good at what he did, he thought begrudgingly. Well, good at flying by the seat of his pants anyway. 

“Turn her around,” Harry said.

Chewbacca and Louis both let out words and in Chewie’s case, sounds of distress. 

“I said, turn her around! I’m going to put all the power in the front shield,” Harry yelled. 

“You’re going to attack them?” Louis asked incredulously.

Harry didn’t answer but pushed the ship to go as fast as it could. 

Louis could see the Star Destroyer looming impossibly in front of them, bigger and bigger as they raced towards the bridge. 

He almost put his hands over his eyes. Harry twisted and turned, deflecting asteroid and laser fire. 

Louis’ hands were clinging to the vinyl seat of the co pilot chair, his knuckles bone white. 

The Millennium Falcon swooped as if to fly past the bigger ship, but Harry expertly landed the ship on the side, cloaking them in the Imperial ship. 

“They’ll think that we used lightspeed to get away,” Harry said. 

“This might have been the most amazing thing you’ve done,” Louis said, a bit in awe. 

Harry smiled genuinely. Louis could tell it was his genuine smile because he had never seen it before. It lit up his whole face, making his eyes shine. Louis wished that he could have bit his tongue. He shouldn’t encourage Harry and yet…

“Thanks. It looks like the fleet is breaking up, so hopefully when the ship is flying alone we can break off unseen.” 

“What system are we in anyway?” Louis asked. 

“Looks like the Anoat system,” Harry answered, scanning the controls.

“Hmm, not much there,” Louis said absentmindedly. 

“Wait…this is interesting. Lando,” Harry said.

Loius stood up from his chair to look where Harry was pointing on the computer map screen.

“Lando system?” Louis asked, puzzled. He had never heard of that or where Harry was pointing to. 

Harry shook his head. 

“Lando. Michael Lando. It isn’t a system, he’s a man. Card player, gambler, scoundrel. You’d like him,” he said.  
Louis raised his brow. 

“I’m sure I would,” he replied dryly.

“Bespin. It’s pretty far, but I think we could make it. If the ship gets rid of its garbage first, we can fly along with it, remaining undetected and then go from there.”

“A mining colony?” Louis asked, reading the description underneath the planet heading.  
“Yes, it’s a gas mine. Lando conned someone out of it. We go back a long time, Lando and I.”

“Do you trust him?” Louis asked.  
Harry answered immediately.

“No, but he has no love for the Empire, I can tell you that. He’s our best shot at surviving and getting new parts for the ship.”

Louis worried his lip between his teeth. They really didn’t have a choice, especially since the lightspeed mechanism wasn’t working.  
Chewbacca barked something over the intercom. Harry looked out the cockpit window and grinned. 

“I didn’t think they’d get rid of the trash so quickly, but that’s good news for us, here we go, Chewie. Stand by for detach.”

Harry leaned back in his chair and gave Louis a smile. Louis smiled back, his heart warming. He couldn’t help but feel affection for this man. As he was still standing near the computer readouts, he leaned down to give Harry a quick kiss on the cheek. 

“You do have your moments, not many, but you have them,” he said, blushing. 

Harry was looking at him in a way that he hadn’t before. He’d looked at him with lust, anger, frustration, but the look in his eyes was so tender. Louis looked away, flushed. 

The Millennium Falcon detached from the ship as the trash debris tumbled out from under the Star Destroyer’s underbelly. 

Harry pumped the throttle, and they were off, racing away from the Imperial ship. 

Louis settled down into the co pilot’s seat as Harry and Chewbacca flew them faster and faster towards the planet of Bespin. 

He had to admit that he was curious about Harry’s ‘friend.’ How many friends did space pirates really have? He probably would end up being a scoundrel like Harry, he thought to himself. 

He still had no contact with the rest of the Rebels, although he tried to think that they were all safe and just in different places, but it was hard not to know for sure. He knew that Luke had left to find a place where he said Ben Kenobi told him to go. He hoped that he was alright. He closed his eyes, sensing the Force all around him. He had no formal training in this area, but it felt natural to him to feel it. It wasn’t as strong as perhaps Luke felt being a Jedi, but he still felt their tenuous connection. He breathed a sigh of relief, he was alive at least. 

Perhaps when Luke returned, he could teach Louis the ways of the Force. After this was all over…what then? But Louis had no idea of the future that awaited him. He didn’t know how they could possibly defeat the Empire. He wished that he was more optimistic, but as of now, he was alone with just Harry and Chewbacca, no longer knowing where the rest of the Resistance was. 

“We’re almost there,” Harry said. 

Louis looked up through the cockpit window to the star system they were fast approaching.  
At first glance, Louis would have set it down as a purely gaseous planet. The surface, when the ship breached, was purely clouds and tinted pink. As they dove deeper towards the planet surface, he realized the city was perched high up on the clouds. It was beautiful.

As they grew closer to the city, two hovering ships approached them, opening fire. The ship rocked to and fro.  
Harry swore violently, picking up the transmitter communication device. 

“No, I don’t have a landing permit. I’m trying to reach Michael Lando.”  
“Do not deviate from your course,” the audio replied back. 

“I thought you said you knew this person,” Louis said.  
The ships ceased firing at them

“You have permission to land,” the other ship’s intercom replied. 

“See? Nothing to worry about,” he said.

Louis wasn’t so sure. His misgivings were growing.

The city was gleaming white in the dense cloud coverage, a metropolis of teeming life. 

There were hundred of platforms for ships to land, perched on the outer city. It reminded Louis of the old days of coruscant, where the senate used to reside. But where this city was white, Coruscant was deep purple, almost black on the whole. 

Harry landed the ship on one of the outer-lying platforms. Louis had a trickling worrying feeling down the back of his neck. The ship felt exposed here. 

Harry lowered the ramp, and they walked out to stand beside the ship, both of them armed. Chewbacca was also nervous, and Louis laid a hand upon his hairy arm, trying to calm him. 

The landing pad remained empty. It seemingly led into the inner city though a huge door that remained closed. 

“It’s strange no one was waiting for us,” Louis said, feeling more uneasy. 

“Listen, it’ll be fine. Trust me,” Harry said, fake bravado in his voice. 

Louis was doubtful, but before he could respond, the door to the corridor opened. A man and some guards were walking down the platform towards them. 

The man leading them was a handsome black man, probably around Harry’s age, who was sporting a frown as his eyes landed on Harry.  
Harry, Louis, and Chewbacca moved to meet the group in the middle of the landing platform. 

“Why you no-good, slimy, double-crossing, swindler! You have a lot of guts coming here after what you pulled!” the man at the front said.

“Me?” Harry asked, his face a picture of innocence. Louis almost laughed seeing it. 

The man moved menacingly forward as if to punch Harry, and then his face changed and he grinned. He wrapped his large arms around Harry, shaking him. Harry had looked tense, and then he too was laughing and patting the man on the back. Louis rolled his eyes at the masculine display. Up close, the man was even more handsome than Louis had presumed. He was a bit taller than Harry with very white teeth and a slim, muscled figure. 

“How have you been, you old pirate? Never thought I’d catch up with you again. Where have you been?” the man asked Harry. 

Louis looked at Chewbacca who was standing near him, both of them forgotten by Harry and the mystery man for the moment. 

“He seems friendly…very friendly,” Louis said, soft voiced? He did not usually judge someone at first glance, but the expression that had been on his face just before he broke into a grin, had been strange. Louis didn’t know what to make of it. 

“What are you doing here?” the man asked. 

“Ah, repairs on the ship. I thought you could help,” Harry said sheepishly, his hand on the back of his neck. 

“What have you done to MY ship?” the man asked sternly. 

“Your ship? Remember I won her fair and square,” Harry said. It was then that the man finally noticed Louis and Chewbacca standing in the background. 

“Hello, what do we have here? My name is Michael Lando, I’m the administrator of this facility. And who might you be?” 

“Louis,” he replied, giving a smile 

“Welcome, Louis,” he said, catching up his hand and giving it a kiss. 

It went without saying that Louis felt a bit amused. This was gentlemanly behavior from someone that called Harry a friend. He was a little flattered and even more amused when he saw Harry’s expression of indignation. 

“Alright, alright, you smooth bastard,” Harry said, coming over to break up the intimate moment. He pulled Louis away gently from Lando, who also seemed amused at his proprietary nature. 

Chewbacca was left to murmur a loud greeting towards Lando, and then they were walking towards to door to the inner city. 

“What’s wrong with the Falcon?” Lando asked as they made their way inside. Louis was struck by the white walls and soft lighting that surrounded the corridors. He didn’t think he’d ever been in a place like this before. A true cloud city. 

“The hyperdrive is malfunctioning,” Harry said.

“I’ll have my people look at it,” Lando replied. 

Turning to Louis, he said, “You know that hunk of junk ship has saved my life more times than I can count. She’s the fastest ship in the galaxy.” 

Louis refrained from commenting for fear of offending their host. He did not have much faith in the sturdiness of ships in general. 

The inner part of the city seemed to be interconnected plazas with an art deco feel. It reminded Louis of the old history books that he used to pore over as a child. This cloud city seemed rich and vibrant, you could look as far as the eye could see and not see chandeliers held high above or white washed walls with gilded painted gold. 

“How’s business? Is that gas mine paying off for you?” Harry asked as they walked towards whatever their destination was. Louis was enjoying just looking around, he wondered if he could get away with wandering off on his own but decided not to chance it. Yet. 

“Oh, it’s not as profitable as I’d hoped it would be. I’ve had supply problems of every kind. I’ve had labor difficulties…why are you smiling?”

Louis looked up to see Harry on the verge of laughter. 

“Just listening to you. You sound like a sound businessman, responsible. Who woulda thought?”  
Lando looked at Harry with an almost reflective expression.

“You know, seeing you again, it brings back a few things.”

Harry nodded his head. 

“Yes, I’m responsible these days. The price of being successful,” he said, patting Harry on the back. 

They continued down the corridor, Louis letting his mind wander, and Harry and Lando reminisced their various misfortunes. 

They reached what Louis realized were living quarters. Harry and Louis were given two separate rooms, but Harry had given him a significant look which he interpreted as, “Stay in you room until I get back, no wandering around alone.” 

The apartment was lush and airy, almost all open space. It was lovely, reminding Louis of his own apartment in the city. An apartment which he wouldn’t see again. He still felt uneasy as he walked around the room. He didn’t much feel like staying there overnight. The bedroom was also beautiful with a bathroom attached. Louis thought he might take a bath, the Millennium Falcon's water heater was tempestuous at the best of times. There was an outfit laid out on the bed and Louis frowned. Surely they hadn’t known they were coming, and yet someone ordered them clothes? It was strange, but he did want to change out of the grimy clothes he was wearing. The clothes on the bed were also white but with a pink tint. Ephemeral and gauzy, the fabric was soft to the touch. The top half was almost sheer, with long diaphanous sleeves, the bottom almost looked like a skirt, but there were leggings to put on underneath. 

Louis figured he had time before Harry came to look for him and decided to bathe. The water was hot and clean, and Louis had decided to shower instead of soak in the tub. Unfortunately, he didn’t know how much time they had or what the schedule was, and he wanted to be on his guard. When he was finished, he stepped out, fluffing his hair with a towel. He looked into the oval mirror and grimaced. His hair needed a trim, and there were dark circle under his eyes, but he had been getting better sleep since being on the Millennium Falcon, a fact that he wouldn’t tell even under pain of death. Imagine what that would do to Harry’s ego. 

He put on the outfit that had been laid on the bed, giving it a cursory glance in the mirror. He had to hand it to Lando or one of his people. They knew how to dress in style. There wasn’t much he could do with his hair while it was still drying, but there were some ribbons laid out on the vanity table. He fixed one as a temporary headband and intertwined it with the others. Satisfied, he went out into the living quarters. He couldn’t sit still though. He was anxious, and he didn’t know why. There was some kind of danger lurking, but he couldn’t put a name to it. 

He was pacing when Harry walked in. He startled a bit at Louis, his eyes roaming his new clothes. Louis didn’t think he’d seen him in anything that wasn’t blood stained or covered in grime recently. 

“Reminds me of the outfit we found you in on the Death Star,” Harry said. “White is truly your color,” he said appreciatively. 

Harry had changed as well into something clean and befitting of his tall, muscular form. 

“What’s going on Harry?” he asked.  
“The ship is almost finished, a couple things left to be done,” Harry said, coming nearer. 

“The sooner the better. Something feels wrong here,” Louis said, biting his thumbnail. 

Harry walked over to him then, slowing his pacing so that he was still. Louis looked up at him. 

“Relax,” Harry said, his hands rubbing Louis’ shoulders in a comforting gesture. 

“There’s nothing wrong, it’s gonna be fine,” 

He kissed Louis on the forehead then, a surprisingly tender gesture. 

Louis felt like his fears weren’t being taken seriously.  
“I don’t trust Lando,” Louis said.

Harry looked at him again, not taking his hands away.

“Well, I don’t trust him either, but he’s my friend. We’ll be gone soon enough.” 

“And then you’re as good as gone aren’t you?” Louis asked, hating that his voice was on the verge of breaking. They hadn’t talked about what there was between them. Louis was fearful when it came to this. He wanted to sort through his own feelings, but he was scared by how much he really felt towards Harry. 

They stood there in silence, neither of them really wanting to talk. He couldn’t even fathom what Harry could be thinking. 

The door SNNKED open, and Lando appeared. Seeing them standing there so close to each other, he raised both of his eyebrows. 

“Am I interrupting anything?” he asked. 

“Not really,” Louis replied, stepping away from Harry. 

Lando’s eyes roamed Louis’ figure.

“You look absolutely beautiful, like you belong with us here in the clouds.” 

He was truly a flatterer, Louis thought. He detected a strain in Lando, a tightening in his eyes. 

“Thank you,” he said politely.

“Will you join me for some light refreshment?” he asked, holding his arm out for Louis to take. Harry was also looking at Lando a little dubiously. 

“You’re invited too, Harry,” Lando said, winking

Harry laughed, some of his natural ease coming back. 

They walked down the corridor and Louis felt another fission of unease. Light poured in from the door length windows, turning the floor in front of them into pools of brightness. 

“Since we’re part of a smaller mining cooperation, we don’t come under the jurisdiction of the Empire,” Lando said.

“So you’re part of the mining guild then?” Louis asked.

“No, our operation is small enough that we don’t come under close scrutiny. It’s best for everyone since our customers don’t want to attract notice.”  
Louis felt dubious once again about this man’s true loyalties. This was not a man with Harry’s sympathy. Louis came to realize that while Harry might be a pirate, he wasn’t dishonest. Most of the time. He didn’t think Lando would make this same decision if it came down to saving his own skin.  
“Aren’t you afraid the Empire is going to find out about your business and shut you down?” Harry asked, close behind where Louis and Lando were walking. Chewie was farther behind, looking tentatively at every shadow. 

“There’s always danger when it comes to the Empire, but things have developed here when it comes to security. I just made a deal that will keep the Empire out of here forever,” he said. 

Before Louis could puzzle what that could possibly mean, they arrived at a dining area. It was beautifully lit with soft light that seemed the staple of cloud city. But at the end of the table, Louis saw a figure that made his heart stop and his blood curdle. He felt Harry stiffen at his back. 

It was Lord Vader. 

The gleaming black bodysuit, the mask with the empty eyes…Louis felt thrown back to the Death Star, a needle probing his neck, his body locked. Next to him stood a bounty hunter, gun at the ready. 

Before Louis could react other than his feeling of dread, Harry had drawn his blaster, firing shots at Vader. He merely waved the shots away, almost as if he’d been expecting them. Maybe he had, it was known that Vader was versed in the dark arts of the Force. Harry’s gun was forced from his hand, flown directly towards Vader where it came to rest. 

“We would be honored if you joined us.” The deep voice resonated, it felt like it was all around the room from every side. Louis wanted to shut his eyes and close his ears, disappear. But he felt Harry’s hand on his arm, steadying him.  
“I had no choice, they arrived before you did,” Lando said.

“I’m sorry too,” Harry replied, a grim look on his face.  
“Take him to the prison cell, put the prince in the holding area,” Lord Vader commanded. 

“So we’re not even getting dinner? The hospitality of this place,” Harry joked, but Louis heard the quiver of fear running through his voice. 

They were going to do to Harry exactly what they’d done to Louis. He tried to grab onto him, fisting the material of shirt in his fist.  
Vader’s troops came out of hiding, forcing them apart. 

“Harry!!” Louis yelled, but it was useless. The stormtroopers forced him into walking, he didn’t even get to see where exactly they were taking Harry. The troopers strong-armed him down corridors and entryways, getting farther and farther from the upper part of the city. The farther they got, the darker it was, as if all the light had been leeched out. 

He was thrown into what he assumed was a prison holding area. He didn’t know what they were going to do with him, he didn’t know how he’d get out of this situation alive. But what they were doing to Harry was far worse. Louis shivered at the memory of what had been done to him. He still had nightmares about how they had tried to extract information out of him, his brain feeling like it had been boiled, the pain that made his bones ache. Even still, he felt that phantom sharpness. He put his head in his hands, tears coming slowly and steadily. 

He didn’t know how long he waited in that cell. It could have been hours or days, his mind playing tricks on him. There was silence everywhere, he could be left to starve and rot in that dank cell. 

Louis was laying on his side, arms pillowed when the door opened and he scrambled up. Two stormtroopers dragged in a beaten up Harry, throwing him into the cell with little ceremony. 

Louis tried to catch him but failed since Harry was heavier and taller than him, but he managed to soften the fall, Harry’s body sprawled on the floor.

Harry’s eyes were bruised, his clothes were torn and bloody. Louis placed Harry’s head on his lap, tears in his eyes. Part of Harry’s arm looked like it had been burned over and over. 

“I feel terrible,” Harry’s voice came out hoarse and broken. 

“Why are they doing this,” Louis whispered, brushing the sweaty strands of hair back from Harry’s forehead. 

“They didn’t even ask me any questions,” Harry said, and Louis’ heart clenched.  
The door opened once more, and Chewbacca was ushered in, his hairy arms and hands chained. He cried out when he saw the condition Harry was in. 

“Don’t make a fuss, buddy,” Harry said, which only made Chewbacca more anxious. 

Before the door closed, Lando appeared, giving the troopers a look so that they closed the door behind him. 

“Get out of here, Lando,” Louis said, his voice shaking with rage. Lando didn’t respond but came closer, wincing when he saw Harry. 

“Listen to me, Vader agreed to let me have custody of you and Chewbacca,” he said. 

“What about me?” Harry asked, struggling to sit up. Louis made a discontented noise, not wanting Harry to hurt himself even more. 

“He’s giving you to the bounty hunter, Boba Fett.” 

“Vader wants us all dead, you shouldn’t trust him,” Louis said.  
“He’s not after you at all. He’s after someone named Luke Skywalker. He’s setting a trap for him,” Lando replied.

“We’re the bait,” Louis said, realization dawning on him. 

He looked at Harry, his eyes red-rimmed. “He’ll come for us, he’s that kind of person,” Louis murmured. Could Luke for once in his life just think about saving himself. He wanted to cry, but he felt too weary. He could feel Harry’s eyes on him. 

Harry staggered to his feet, his fists clenched. Louis stood up quickly too, afraid that he might fall over. 

“You set us up pretty good didn’t you? My ‘friend,’” Harry spat at Lando.

Before Louis could stop him, he landed a punch straight to Lando’s jaw. The fight lasted a few moments before the guards pulled Harry off of Lando, not before he got a punch, in causing Harry to groan. 

“Look, I’m sorry. I’ve done all I can, but I have my own problems to think about!” Michael said tersely.

“Yeah, you’re a real pal,” Harry sneered, turning his back. Lando looked like he was about to say something more but shook his head. He left the room, the doors locking behind him. 

Harry was wiping blood of off his jaw.

“You certainly have a way with people,” Louis said, trying to staunch the blood with his ragged shawl.  
“Louis, I’m sorry that I got you involved with this, I didn’t know.” 

“You don’t have to apologize, I know you were actually trying to do the right thing,” Louis said, a hint of a smile on his face. 

Harry grunted then dropped to the floor, spreading his legs out. He patted his thighs for Louis to sit between them. Louis hesitated but figured he might as well. He crept between Harry’s legs, sighing when Harry’s arms came around him, his chin between the crook of his neck. 

“If anything, I should be apologizing to you,” Louis said. 

“If you hadn’t come back to the Resistance, you could have paid off your debt.” 

“You know I came back for you, right?” Harry asked.

Louis shook his head no, closing his eyes. He hadn’t slept for so long, hadn’t felt safe for so long. Harry’s arms were warm, he could feel the inhale of his chest, the beating of his heart. How he wished they were anywhere else than a dingy prison cell. He wanted to tell Harry how he felt, but even now he still felt unsure.

They were taken to a carbon freezing platform. Louis and Chewbacca were separated from Harry when they arrived. There was nothing he could do, they were both handcuffed and strong-armed away from each other. Two soldiers stood by Louis and the Wookiee as Harry was escorted towards the front. Lord Vader, Lando, and the bounty hunter along with a stormtrooper, were standing by a coffin-length chamber. 

“What’s going on Lando?” Harry asked. 

“They’re putting you in carbon freeze,” Lando said. 

Louis’ heart stuttered in his chest. Carbon freezing was barbaric. There was not a one hundred percent survival rate, in fact, many people died before the process was even completed. Chewbacca began to yell and howl at the news. He swung his handcuffed fists at the guard next to him. The guards began to shoot as he started to rampage.  
“Chewie! Stop!” Harry shouted, jumping from the platform. Louis saw Vader motion for the guards to let him go. 

“Save your strength, buddy. You’ll need it. You have to protect Louis,” he said, giving the Wookiee a firm grip on his hairy bicep. 

Chewbacca let out a doleful sound, almost like a farewell. 

Harry came to stand before Louis next. Louis bit his lip knowing that their time was short. 

Harry kissed him passionately like all of his pent up emotions were in that kiss. Louis felt the strength of it pulse through him like a tide, causing him to fall under. 

All too soon it was over, the guards prying them away from each other. Their eyes never left each other as he was hauled into the chamber.

“I love you!” Louis shouted at him, tears streaming down his face. 

“I know,” Harry replied. 

Louis wanted to both roll his eyes and sob at the same time. The platform dropped and the process began. Louis turned away, unable to face what was happening. The process included dousing the subject in fiery liquid carbon and then immediately freezing. 

“Well? Did he survive?” Vader asked, impatiently. 

Louis heard Lando respond. 

“Yes, he’s alive, in perfect hibernation.” 

“He’s all yours, bounty hunter. Reseal the chamber in preparation for Skywalker. Take the Wookiee and the prince to my ship.” 

“Skywalker has landed, My Lord,” a guard entering the platform said. 

Oh God, Louis thought. Luke was already here.  
“Wait!” Lando said. “You said that the Wookiee and the prince were under my jurisdiction.”  
“I’ve altered the terms of the deal,” Vader said in his deep, mechanical voice. The deadly intent was there. “Pray that I do not alter it further.” 

Louis saw Lando’s hand jump to his throat. 

The guards returned to escort them away. Louis had one last glance at where Harry was now encased in carbon, his mouth set in a scream. How much agony had he suffered before he was blessedly unconscious? Louis hoped that he could find a way to rescue him, but hope seemed dead to him. Luke was the only one that stood a chance against Vader, and he was walking straight into their trap. 

From the bowels of the city where they were, they moved towards the light and airy upper half. Louis was relieved to feel the light on his face after being stuck in the darkness. They were moving fast though the corridors, but Louis glimpsed Luke. 

“Luke!!! Get out of here! IT’S A TRAP!” he shrieked, hoping he was loud enough for Luke to hear.  
“Shut up you!” a guard said, hitting Louis in the temple with his pulse rifle. Louis fell against Chewbacca, crying out in pain. The Wookiee screeched and half carried and half dragged Louis through the hall. 

Lando was at the end of one of the corridors, with his own guard. He raised his hand in greeting, and then suddenly his guards were shooting at the stormtroopers surrounding Louis and Chewbacca. Louis was covered by the Wookiee’s ginormous arms as the laser fire sparked to a stop. Lando came towards Louis, a gun held out for him to take. Louis took it wordlessly. 

Chewbacca was on Lando instantly, throttling him and lifting him on his tip toes.

“Stop—I—had—no—choice,” Lando choked out. 

“Chewie, let him go,” Louis said disgustedly.

“What exactly is your angle, Lando?” Louis asked him as Lando was ceremoniously dropped to the ground, gasping for air. 

“We’re getting out of here of course,” he said, finally catching his breath. 

“Do you think, after what you did to Harry, we’re going to trust you?” Louis said. 

“You have no choice but to trust me,” Lando replied as Louis and Chewbacca turned to walk away from him. 

“There’s still a way we can save Harry,” he called to him and Louis stopped. Damn it.  
“If we can get to the bounty hunter’s ship before he takes off, we can rescue Harry.” 

“Fine, but this is not me trusting you,” Louis said. 

The city was abuzz with activity, more than once they had to hide from stormtroopers on their patrol runs. 

They made it to the ship platform but not in time. The bounty hunter’s ship took off just as they spotted it. 

Chewbacca screamed in frustration, which caused the patrols to flock to them in droves. 

“We need to get to the elevator!” Lando said, beckoning them towards the lift. Louis didn’t want to leave Chewie behind, so he tried to cover him, forcing the big creature to come with him. 

Laser fire was sparking on everything, Louis swore that even his clothes had gotten singed. 

The elevator door shut behind them, moving fast.  
“Where are all these soldiers coming from?” Louis wondered. 

“It’s because of Vader,” Lando said grimly. 

“Look Louis, I didn’t WANT to betray Harry, whatever you think of me, I swear I didn’t want to. Vader said that he would honor the trade agreement if I gave Harry up. He was sure this other man of his was looking for you and would follow you here.” 

“Luke,” Louis whispered. He was already here, and Louis had helped to trap him. He gripped his blaster even tighter than before. 

“It doesn’t matter Lando, we have to figure out what to do with the here and the now,” he said, realizing they needed some sort of plan. 

“It’s come to my attention that Vader isn’t even going to keep his agreement with me anyway. I need to cut my losses before anything worse happens.”  
“You mean anything worse than Harry being frozen into carbon?” Louis asked, his tone frosty. 

Lando winced. 

“We need to get on the Falcon,” he said.

“Agreed,” Louis said, checking the laser gun and frowning when the charge was only half full. 

As soon as they got out of the lift, they were being pushed back by Chewie’s beefy arm and into an alcove. The place was swarming with troopers that made Louis’ blood crawl. They were everywhere.  
“How are we possibly going to wade through all of that?” Louis asked, but Lando’s attention wasn’t on him. He was peering at a key pad and cursing. 

“They’ve changed the security codes,” he said, slamming his fist on the wall. 

“Let me try and bypass it,” Louis said, shifting over to look at the computer processor. 

“You can do that?” Lando asked skeptically.

“I can do a lot of things,” Louis answered, already tearing apart the smaller wires in the circuit board. 

“I can see why he likes you,” Lando said, and Louis ignored the pang in his heart at the mention of Harry. 

Lando was now at another panel while Louis worked on changing the security codes. It was something that he was always fascinated by when he was growing up. The tech and the organic build up of how tech GREW. He considered himself a well-rounded student, but technology was always easy for him. A small drift of memory came back to him. He remembered his father behind close doors saying that Louis’ real father was a technological genius. Louis wondered if some of that had been inherited.  
Lando was now speaking into the panel’s intercom, making sure that it was heard citywide.

“Attention, this is Michael Lando. The city has come under the attack of the Empire. Get out while you still can. I repeat, the Empire has taken over the city.”  
Louis had no doubt that the city was now under fire. It was always the way with the Empire before a cold, bloody victory was won. 

“Alright, come on, we should be easily able to bypass the codes now.” 

Lando picked his blaster back up and they were underway. Again, they had to fight through the flood of stormtroopers and laser fire.  
“We can’t keep this up for very long!” Louis shouted. Inch by inch, they began to make way. Chewbacca let out a yell and wildly threw a grenade that plumed smoke. 

They raced down the last corridor until they saw the Falcon. 

“Get in!!” Louis shrieked at both Chewbacca and Lando. He was returning fire until they both got up the ramp. He threw down the blaster as he raced towards the cockpit. Chewbacca had already settled into the pilot’s seat, leaving Louis to get into co pilot position, Lando standing in back of them.  
They started to take off even though they were still coming under fire. 

“There are ships coming after us,” Lando said, reading the computer layouts. 

“I can see that,” Louis said, trying to steer the ship.   
  
Louis felt something reach out towards him, almost violently. He stilled in his chair. There was a pressure building behind his brain, something seeking him out. He could almost hear Luke’s voice in his head. 

“We have to go back,” Louis said abruptly.

“What? Are you crazy??” Lando asked, his voice cracking

Chewbacca barked out something too, which Louis didn’t understand. 

“Just trust me. Luke is in trouble, and I know where he is,” Louis said urgently.

Chewbacca roared again uncertainly while Louis turned to him.  
“Please, just do it.” 

The Falcon dipped back towards the cloud city, surprising the TIE fighters behind them. 

“Try to hold off their fire for a bit longer,” Louis said, looking at the schematics on the screen. 

“Look, I see someone hanging from out there, on the weather vane,” Lando said, pointing out the cockpit window.

“It’s Luke! Chewie, get us underneath him. Lando, go open up the top hatch.”

Lando raced out of the cockpit to do as Louis asked. The ship got closer and closer towards Luke, who was hanging perilously from a weather vane. 

“Ok, get us underneath him slowly,” Louis instructed. 

Louis saw Luke tumble from the weather vane as they banked underneath him. 

Louis pressed the intercom button. 

“Lando? Do you have him?” 

“Got him,” he affirmed. Just then the Falcon was being hit by fire, the TIE fighters surrounding them. 

“Punch it, Chewie we gotta get out of here!” Louis yelled. He set the coordinates as the Wookiee steered them away from the cloud city for the last time. Sparks were flying from the controls as they dodged laser fire. 

Lando came into the cockpit, this time with Luke under his arm. 

Louis gasped. Luke was battered and bruised as if he’d fought with a mobster and lost. 

“Luke!” he shouted and ran to him. Luke collapsed into his arms. 

“My God, what happened to you??” he asked.

“It’s a long story,” Luke said croakily. 

“You can tell me after you’ve been to the infirmary, and if we get out of this,” Louis said. 

“What’s taking so long?” Lando asked Chewbacca. 

“I thought you said the hyperdrive was fixed?” Louis asked, dread coiling in his gut. 

If they had no hyper drive capability then they were as good as dead. 

“They said they fixed it!” Lando capitulated.  
“Ah, yes, friends to the Empire,” Louis said sarcastically. 

Chewbacca roared, signaling Louis to take the controls. 

“Luke, get to the infirmary. Chewie, fix the hyperdrive and Lando…stay out of the way,” Louis said furiously. 

Outside of the planet’s atmosphere, Louis saw the huge ship of the Empire, Vader’s flagship. He knew they were probably tracking the Falcon right now, no matter where they went, they would be found. He cursed under his breath. 

He saw one of the little droids that he had stored the Death Star plans in working furiously with Chewie on the hyperdrive. The little R2 unit. 

Suddenly, Chewbacca pulled back on the hyperdrive controls, and they shot off into space. 

Louis had never been happier to leave a planet in his entire life.  
“Thank the gods you fixed it,” Louis said, finally able to relax nominally. 

“We need to find what’s left of the Rebel fleet,” Louis said, changing the coordinates on the computer. 

“Aren’t they tracking us?” Lando asked, watching him work. 

“Yes, but I’m pretty sure they’ve known where we’ve been the past couple of months, at least half a year. They want to wipe us all out at once. When they send in their army, they’re going to come after us with all of their force. And I have a feeling it’s going to be soon,” Louis answered.

He left Lando and Chewbacca arguing over their next location and went down to the infirmary to see Luke. 

Luke was already getting work on his hand done by a medical droid. 

“You lost your hand?” Louis asked, shocked.  
“I had the pleasure of meeting Lord Vader in a duel,” Luke said grimly, showing the new prosthetic hand the droid was working on. 

“I thought that I was ready to face him, I thought I was ready to face the dark side, but I wasn’t prepared at all,” Luke said. 

“You shouldn’t be so hard on yourself, you couldn’t possibly have known what to expect,” Louis said, coming to sit across from him.  
“You faced him, Louis. You didn’t even have the training I had.” 

“That was different. There’s no way you could have known how powerful Vader is. I didn’t face him as an equal, and neither did you. There is a story to his power, a deal he’s made with the devil,” Louis said. 

Luke looked at him mournfully. 

“I don’t know how I’m going to defeat him. His power is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced even with my training,” Luke said, wincing as the medical droid finished with his hand. Louis watched as he flexed the metal and covered it with a glove.

“C’mon, we need to get up to the cockpit. We need to rendezvous with the rest of the fleet,” Louis said.

✶✶✶✶✶

Louis stood with Luke with the last of the Rebel fleet. It had taken them days to find where they were located, and Louis felt worn out. There was so many things he had to do, but he felt brittle and old beyond his years. He stood staring at the Millennium Falcon from the observation deck. Lando was going to find Harry, or so he said. 

“Prince Louis, we’ll find Harry, I promise,” the comlink buzzed in his hand. Louis tried to smile but suspected he failed miserably. He felt Luke touch his hand tentatively and then grasp it tight. 

“We’ll find him, Louis. I know we will.” 

Luke also looked older than when Louis had last seen him. There was a maturity there that wasn’t before. He looked like a leader and acted like one too. 

“What happened with you and Vader?” Louis asked.

Luke’s expression shuttered, and he looked down. 

“I haven’t really come to terms with it yet.” 

“You can always talk to me, you know,” Louis said. 

“I know,” Luke said and smiled, and then, “how did you know where to pick me up? On that weather vane?” 

Louis looked out towards the vastness of space. 

“I just…knew. I could feel you calling me,” Louis said. 

“It’s strange. It feels as if there is some sort of tether connecting us.”

“I feel the same.” 

The intercom buzzed again, this time Luke’s.

“I’ll meet you at the Rendevouz point on Tattooine.”  
“I”ll be waiting for your signal,” Luke said. “May the Force be with you.” 

“How’s the hand?” Louis asked, Luke stretched his new bionic hand as if it itched. 

“Feels almost as good as new. Just a little weird.” 

“In the mean time, we should try to gather as much of our forces as we can,” Louis said, sighing. 

What he wanted to do was sleep for the rest of his life but…

“Are you in love with Harry?” Luke asked him. 

“It’s strange, if you had asked me that a month ago, I would have told you that I didn’t know what my feelings were, but I realized I’ve been trying to fight against it from the moment I met him. I am in love with him,” Louis said. 

“You make him a better man,” Luke said. 

“He didn’t change for me, there was always that possibility that he wanted to do the right thing, and he did,” Louis said, pressing his hand to the cold glass. 

“Vader told me that he was my father,” Luke said woodenly. 

Louis turned to look at him, aghast. 

“But I thought your father was murdered?” Louis said.

“He was, but not in the way that I thought. My father turned to the dark side,” Luke answered, his own face filled with dread. 

“Oh, Luke.” 

Louis reached out to hold him, even though Luke was slightly taller, he rounded into him.  
“Louis, I know this is going to sound crazy but…I think you’re my twin.”  
Louis looked up from the hug to see Luke’s bright blue eyes, the same color as his, staring back at him.  
“I’ve had the same sensation,” Louis said. “Something about how you called out to me through the Force.” 

“That would mean that Vader is your father too.”

Louis shuddered. 

“He tortured me on the Death Star. He is no father of mine,” Louis said firmly. 

Lukes’ expression softened. “He’s not our father, no. My father was my uncle. He was a stern man, an unforgiving man, but he was trustworthy. True. Another man killed by the cruelty of the Empire.”

Louis gave Luke another squeeze. 

“I don’t even know if my father is alive. I hope he is, but my mother, my adopted relatives, they’re all gone. Vader and the Empire destroyed them too.” 

“But we have each other,” Luke said.

“Yes, and I’m very glad. I always wanted a sibling.” 

Luke laughed. “So did I. And I always had this feeling I had another half somewhere."

  
"I grew up very sheltered until I started getting involved in politics. My father trained me as a spy and a senator. I wouldn’t be where I am without his guidance," Louis said, a little sadly.  
“We’ll find him, Lou, we’ll find him and Harry. If it’s in my power" Luke said. They stood quietly as they watched the different ships in the fleet scatter. 

✶✶✶✶✶

Louis could go hours, even days, without thinking of Harry, but the thought of him was always in the back of his mind when he fell asleep. He knew that there was nothing he could do until their intel came back, until Lando could secure clearance into Jabba’s palace. At least Harry was feeling no pain. He wasn’t being tortured, just held captive. Louis didn’t know if he’d punch him the next time he’d see him or kiss him. He just brought out the same energies in equal measure. But he couldn’t deny that he missed him. He missed Harry’s roguish energy, the gentle touch of his hands, the way that he spoke Louis’ name with wonder, the way he kissed him as if his world revolved around it. He’d never loved someone the way he loved Harry. He never even thought he’d live this long to experience anything like it. Louis had come up with a plan, but it was quite plainly mad. He thought it could work. Possibly. 

They had figured out that Harry was being held at Jabba the Hut’s palace, in plain view of anyone that entered the throne room. Surveillance had shown them what a nasty piece of work Jabba was. He threw slave women and men that displeased him into a pit with a monster to be devoured. It was a game to him, sending people to their deaths. Louis loathed him with his entire being. The Empire let thugs and gangsters like Jabba thrive because they were of use to them. Perhaps if Harry hadn’t grown a conscience back then…but it was too late now. What’s done was done. Louis was going to go undercover and rescue him, or die trying. It was the first plan, and if nothing went wrong, Luke wouldn’t even have to come to the palace. Louis worried about him. He was so serious and stoic. He had aged from a young man to a young adult. It was strange to watch, although Louis was proud of him. He hoped the plan would go off without a hitch, although he wasn’t certain. Regardless, he was going to save Harry. 

Tattooine was a desert planet that didn’t have many resources except in hauling scrap and getting involved in illegal activities. It was why Ben Kenobi had left Luke there, it was further out of reach of the Empire, further still from Louis. 

He felt a sadness well up within him at the thought of Luke’s upbringing. He didn’t have all the advantages that Louis had and never knew he had a sibling out there as neither did Louis. 

“Your old stomping grounds I presume?” Louis said as they touched down on the planet. 

“It’s strange how it seems like just yesterday I was here, having no idea what a Jedi was,” Luke said, a wistful expression on his face. 

“And now you are one,” Louis said, smiling. 

“I’m telling you, you have potential too. You should let me take you to Yoda, he could train you.”

“Maybe after this is all over,” Louis said. He was curious about this Jedi master that Luke talked about. It seemed rather fantastical when he thought about it, but he knew it was true. The Force was in everything and everyone, he had felt that. 

“I’m nervous about the plan,” Luke confessed as they walked off the ship. 

“Believe me, I am too, it’s half-cocked at best,” Louis said, then added, “but we have no choice.” 

“There has been a threat growing in my mind where Vader is concerned. I don’t think he’ll stop until I join him or I’m dead,” Luke said. 

“I know you, Luke. I know you’d never join him. It’s strange that we should share a father and yet we’re unlike him in every way,” Louis said. 

“I think we’re probably like our mother, whoever she was. I know nothing about her,” Luke said, sadly. 

“If we ever find my adopted father, if he’s still alive. I’m sure he knows more than he ever told me,” Louis said. 

“I’d love to meet the man who raised you,” Luke said smiling. 

They only had a few moments before Luke was leaving to find more supplies and to finalize the plan if things went wrong. 

“I’m glad that even though all of this happened, we found each other. I’ve always wanted a sibling,” Louis said, feeling the urge to cry. 

Luke hugged him softly.

✶✶✶✶✶

Louis used all his cunning as a spy to infiltrate Jabba’s palace. The plan was half-cocked, he knew. He would dress as a bounty hunter, offering up Chewbacca as leverage. The planet’s atmosphere was consistently dusty and hot, he was sweating even before he put on the heavy body armor to conceal himself. He hoped that he looked convincing enough. He had weapons training, knew how to use a blaster, could act as if he was mercenary if he needed to. They had waited weeks for this plan to come to being. Louis was getting impatient. Not only were they trying to pull this scheme off, but the Empire was getting closer to victory every day. Luke was their contingency plan if things didn’t go as planned. They had sent the small R2 droid with a message for Jabba, to see what his mood was like and for R2 to also gain entrance into the palace. If you could call the dank cave-like atmosphere a palace, Louis thought as he walked in with Chewbacca. He gained entrance by demanding a bounty for him, refusing to let him out of his sight. 

He was perspiring underneath his mask, longing to take it off, but he couldn’t until the job was done. He’d done some foolhardy things in his life, but infiltrating a gangster’s den was one of the riskiest. 

Jabba’s advisor took them to the throne room. Immediately Louis’ masked face was drawn to Harry’s figure, frozen in carbonate, adorned on the wall as an ornament. His blood burned with fury at the sight. 

Jabba had an interpreter, which Louis was thankful for. He couldn’t understand the Hut mother tongue. The Hut was massive, much like an overgrown lizard, with huge bulbous eyes and slimy skin. Louis wanted to vomit as those eyes settled on his masked and blanketed figure. 

The throne room was crowded with all sorts of aliens, hangers ons, and despicable criminals. Louis had nothing against people who had to make a living where they could, but the atmosphere was filled with cruelty, creatures who would kill as soon as look. Jabba was speaking to him, and the throne room was hushed.

“The mighty Jabba will pay you twenty-five thousand credits for the Wookiee,” the alien interpreter said.  
“I want fifty thousand,” Louis said though his helmet, fitted with a voice modulator. Even to him, it sounded mechanical, lifeless. 

Jabba roared, at least that’s what Louis thought he did. He flew into a rage, knocking things over with his massive hands. No need to translate that. 

The alien translator looked scared, inching away from the Hut. 

“Jabba asks why must he pay fifty thousand?” 

“Because I’m holding a detonator in my hand,” Louis said, bringing his hand out of his pocket. He held a small detonation device, the red dots beeping. Immediately, the crowd reared back in fear. Even the guards next to him jumped back. 

Jabba looks at him for a long moment and then leers. He says something that has the translator relaxing. 

“Jabba likes your creativity and fearlessness. He will give you thirty-five thousand credits. I suggest you take this deal.” 

Louis nodded his head in agreement and clicked the detonator off much to the relief of the party assembled. 

“Jabba says that you may stay here until your payment is fulfilled,” the translator said, bowing. 

Louis nodded stiffly, noticing that the bounty hunter that had captured Harry was watching him from the corner of the room. 

He ignored him and watched with a pang as Chewbacca was separated from him. He joined the crowd who was hooting and hollering as dancing girls were brought in. Louis made a mental note to try and free them as well. Slavers. That’s how the Huts had made most of their fortune. They were scum, and Jabba was the worst of them, the most powerful. His eyes scanned the room, and he spotted Lando, who was dressed in alien armor. He felt relief as he saw him but gave no look of recognition. They had made it so far. He didn’t know when he would have the chance to free Harry from the carbonite. Being so close to him yet unable to do anything ground on his frayed nerves. He dare not remove his helmet at all. He was conscious of the bounty hunter processing his movements, so he made himself as still as possible. The environment was raucous, and the alcohol flowed freely.  
He couldn’t count how many drinks he’d turned down.  
Louis waited until the party was over and most of the participants of the party were asleep or unconscious. The throne room was mostly quiet except for drunken snoring. Louis moved his way stealthily towards where Harry hung spotlighted on the wall by a force shield. He found the switch to deactivate the force shield on the side of the case and pushed it. The case slowly slid towards the floor, feeling the force of gravity.  
He found the panel with the decarbonization panel and entered the code. The case begin to emit a soft humming noise. Louis looked around him but found no signs of anyone stirring. He sighed inside the helmet with relief as Harry began to look as if he was melting, the carbonization disappearing into the atmosphere. He lay in the case, not breathing. Louis waited for his heart to start back up, anxiously awaiting him to awaken. A few excruciating moments went by before Harry awake with a gasp. 

“Shhh, you need to be quiet. You just awoke from carbon sleep, you have hibernation sickness,” Louis cautioned, trying to prop Harry up into a sitting position. 

Harry’s face was ashen and sweaty. He brought up a shaky hands towards his eyes. 

“I can’t see,” he whispered, and his voice was croaky. 

“Your eyesight will return soon,” Louis said with his computerized voice. 

“Where am I?” Harry asked, now shivering and shaking. 

“Jabba’s palace,” Louis answered.  
“Wait, who are you?” Harry asked, blindly searching for Louis’ face. 

Louis couldn’t wait any longer before removing his helmet. 

“Someone who loves you very much,” he said, touching Harry’s face. 

“Louis!” Harry whispered, reaching a hand out to grasp him. 

“I’ve got to get you out of here,” Louis said. He struggled trying to get Harry upright. Even being encased in carbonate did nothing to reduce how much bigger and stronger he was than Louis. 

He braced himself using the heavy case as leverage to prop Harry up. He could tell that he was still woozy and disoriented. 

Before they could even take a step towards the exist, a low laugh permeated the air. 

“What is that? I know that laugh…” Harry said. 

Suddenly all the lights came up in the throne room, revealing Jabba’s throne platform. His cronies were awake and cackling beside him. Louis tried to move them faster towards the door, but the bounty hunter that had originally captured Harry barred the way. 

“Look Jabba, I can pay you back, I swear,” Harry started saying, looking towards where the voice had come from. 

Louis didn’t understand the Hut’s language, but he very much sounded like he wasn’t going to just let them go. 

The guards grabbed Harry out of Louis’ arms. 

“No!” he cried, trying to reach back towards him. They forced him apart, taking Harry swiftly out of the room. 

Louis looked up to see Lando in a guard’s uniform. Giving nothing away as he allowed him to be taken towards Jabba. 

The Hut was even more enormous closer up. Louis fought his gag reflex as he was pushed towards the throne. 

“We have powerful friends, you are going to regret this,” Louis said, calmly and clearly. He’d be damned if he’d let this gangster intimidate him. 

The translator had returned to Jabba’s side and was now leering at him. 

“The mighty Jabba has a great use for you,” he said mysteriously. Louis turned away as he was yanked towards the huge blob of a Hut. He could barely look at him, so disgusted was he. Lando returned by his side with another guard. 

He was pushed out of the room and down a dimly lit part of cave. It seemed that Jabba’s “palace” was literally an underground series of corridors and rooms. The dungeons were even further underground, which is where he assumed they had taken Harry. Part of him had thought that their plan had little chance of success, but now all their hopes rested in Luke. He would have to come soon, otherwise he heard Harry would be executed. He was dumped in a small room that he assumed had belonged to the last dancing girl. There were bars on the door, and he rushed back to see if Lando had any leeway to free him, but he knew there was little hope of that. Luke would need him to remain undiscovered if he had any chance at defeating Jabba and rescuing them. 

“He’s going to make you his new pet,” Lando whispered through the bars. 

Louis felt a wave of revulsion go through him. 

“He doesn’t even want me to dance?” Louis asked. 

“I don’t know, but I don’t think so. This Hut has a sick streak, he finds new dancers and “pets” all the time. Just try not to displease him too much, or he’ll throw you to the monster that lives beneath the palace,” Lando said. He was pretending to check his weapons as the other guards went by on patrol. 

“I’ll try to contact Luke again, but I’ll be in the throne room with you. If worse comes to worse, I’ll try to get you out. Good luck, Louis,” he said and was gone. 

Louis turned back to examine his surroundings. There were costumes hanging on a rack and a vanity with a mirror. There was a mattress on the floor and shoes scattered everywhere. He wondered how many men and women had slept and lived in this same place.  
He was relieved at least that Harry was still alive. Many didn’t even make it through the first face of decarbonization. He was alive for now, and so was Louis.  
He hoped that Luke would hurry. He didn’t like the idea of being Jabba the Hut’s personal pet, whatever that entailed. It made him feel sick to his stomach. He sat on the mattress, looking at the scattered remnants of the other dancers, probably slaves from poor neighboring planets. 

He closed his eyes, feeling the tenuous hold of the Force.  
“Luke,” he thought with his mind “If you can hear this, we’re in trouble.” 

Louis didn’t have to wait for long until one of Jabba’s goons came back to his cell. 

“Jabba wants you to wear this,” the guard said, thrusting an outfit towards Louis. 

He got up slowly, trying to see if the man was carrying a weapon he could grab, but the man threw the fabric to the floor before Louis could reach him. 

If you could call it fabric, Louis thought sourly. 

“He really expects me to wear this? There’s nothing to it…” Louis said. 

“The mighty Jabba insists you wear it or your friend Styles dies,” the man leered at him. 

Louis turned away disgustedly. He didn’t want to be paraded around as anyone’s belonging. 

“This is so messed up,” he said to himself, laying the outfit down on the mattress. There really wasn’t much to it. The bottom part was a thong matched with a maroon skirt, two slits up the side. The top half was a bikini top made of metal and interlaced with gold. It looked like a showgirl’s outfit anyone could see on Coruscant. 

Louis preferred silks and outfits he could move around in. This was the skimpiest thing he’d ever worn, at least publicly. 

“He said to put makeup on as well,” the guard yelled into his cell, still watching Louis. 

Men of all species were the same, Louis thought, wanting something pretty that they could control. He looked around again at the remnants of all the past dancers, men, and women that had lived in this room, never wanting to be there. He vowed to himself that he would avenge them in any way that he could. 

Hours later, he was finally taken back into the throne room to hoots and hollers from the court. Louis was disgusted, basically being treated like a piece of meat for them to slobber over. Jabba’s guards placed a gold collar on his neck attached to a chain, which Jabba held in his fat hands. Louis struggled at first then realized it was hopeless. It would be better if he complied, knowing he could search for a weakness he could exploit. Jabba forced him over with the heavy gold chain, so that he could see Louis in the outfit he had chosen. He leered at him and spoke in his language which Louis understood in terms of lewdness. He drew blood pressing his nails into his palms. He had never felt more helpless and more put on display. He was laid out in front of Jabba, like one of his dancing girls. He felt like crawling out of his skin as members of Jabba’s court eyes roved over his body. Stronger and with more focus, he began to concentrate, sending Luke his feelings through the Force. He wasn’t a practiced Force user, but he knew the rudimentary basics.  
Luke must have heard Louis through the Force because a shadow in the back of Louis’ mind began to grow, the feeling that his brother was near. His heart leapt in his chest when he spotted him entering the throne room.

His eyes immediately landed on Louis, the anger in his eyes evident as he saw what Jabba had done with him. Luke was dressed in all black, his lightsaber hanging at his waist. 

He spoke in a cold, clear voice. 

“You will bring the Wookiee and Captain Styles to me,” he said. The room’s atmosphere began to change. Louis could feel Luke using a Jedi mind trick, trying to bend Jabba’s will to his. The crowd surrounding the throne was hushed, waiting to see what would happen.  
Jabba answered, and Louis knew at once that the trick did not work on him. 

Luke put out his hand and spoke again, “Nevertheless, I will be taking Captain Styles and his friends.” 

Jabba laughed, a thick, wet sound. 

“Luke, you’re standing on—” Louis tried to yell but was yanked backwards by his throat, choking him, making his vision black out.  
Jabba pressed the button next to his chair, and the floor beneath Luke gave way, making him fall down to the pit where Jabba kept his pet monster.  
“LUKE!” Louis screamed, trying to scrabble against the collar and chain. 

“You will watch him die, Prince,” the translator said, sauntering over towards Louis. The floor’s opening had closed, but the floor was barred so that what was underneath could be seen. Louis was at the edge of the throne’s platform, one had trying to stave off the leash and his eyes frantically searching for Luke. 

The monster that lived underneath the palace was a rancor, a massive, fanged beast. Louis found himself unable to look away. It felt like the longest moments of his life watching his brother fight a monster that was bred only to kill. Against all odds, Luke managed to kill the creature, sending Jabba into a fury. Louis was grinning, joy infused in his veins. Luke, Harry, and Chewbacca were brought into the throne room.  
Harry looked as if his eyes had healed, his gaze roving the throne room. 

“How are we doing?” he heard Harry ask Luke as they were brought towards the dias. 

“Oh, the same as usual,” Luke said. 

“That bad, huh,” Harry replied, a shadow of his former more sarcastic self resurfacing 

“Where’s Louis?” Harry asked, seeing only Chewbacca and Luke next to him. 

“I’m here,” Louis called out, and if Luke’s gaze was murderous, Harry’s was doubly so. He tried to smile at him but he doubted he looked very convincing. 

He moved against the guards as if he was going to storm the throne and rescue Louis with his bare hands. Louis mentally rolled his eyes at the audacity to think he could do that but softened.  
Louis watched as Jabba’s translator spoke to Luke and Harry.  
“You are to be terminated immediately.” 

“Great, I hate long waits,” Harry quipped. 

“You and your companions will be thrown into the Dune sea where the Sarlaac resides, into his mighty belly you will be released.” 

“That doesn’t sound that bad,” Harry said aside to Luke. 

“Where you will be digested and still alive for hundreds of years,” the translator continued. 

Harry winced. 

“It can always get worse can’t it,” he said

“You should have bargained with me, Jabba. It’s the last mistake you’ll ever make,” Luke said.

Jabba laughed, or at least that’s what Louis thought he did. He made a deep gurgling noise in his throat that had Louis turning away in disgust. 

The guards pushed Harry and Luke towards the exit. Louis let out a sigh of relief that Lando was still undetected. 

He was still chained to the collar and chain and was constantly being tugged to and from Jabba’s slimy hands. 

He was forced to walk close to him as they left the throne room. Louis put out a hand in front of his face as they entered daylight. It was a scorching hot day, the sun beat down on them relentlessly as they migrated towards the low lying ship that would transport them. Louis had lost sight of Harry, Chewbacca, and Luke but saw that there were two smaller skiffs that accompanied the barge. Louis figured that the salt barge they were boarding was like a pleasure boat, something that was taken out for light flying. It was all open but shaded so that the sun beat down upon the roof but not directly inside. Louis was still sweating, the collar’s heavy metal burning him. He sure hoped that Luke had a plan. There were still guards everywhere. The ship was state of the art with anti-gravity measures so that it lifted itself off of the ground, the ride smooth. He tried to walk towards the edge of the ship, but Jabba yanked him back. He scrabbled at the chain, trying to gain ground. The Hut was leering at him again. How he wished he could blast the smug smile off of his face. He said something to Louis that he didn’t understand, but the translator, as always, was lurking nearby like a creep. 

“He says that you will learn to appreciate him in time,” he said, also running a finger down Louis’ arm. 

Louis bared his teeth, and the translator stepped back. He would bite him if he had to. 

“There’s little chance of me ever appreciating him,” Louis said and tried again to put distance between him and the Hut. 

Their pace in the ship was slow but steady. Louis had no idea where they were going. He had never been on Tattooine before, but it looked like the planet was just desert. There were no big cities to pass, just endless dust. He could see why Luke had wanted to leave.  
They came to a stop some twenty minutes later where a large pit could be seen in the sand dunes. Louis saw Harry and Luke’s skiff stop almost directly above it. This didn’t look good. 

A plank shot out from the skiff, guards pushing Luke towards it first. Louis’ breath caught in his throat. Below the plank, thousands of teeth could be seen MOVING. Louis felt revulsion rise up within him. They couldn’t possibly be feeding that thing humans? 

They had undone Luke’s bonds but kept pushing him towards the edge. Jabba rose and slowly moved towards the rail, Louis trailing behind him. The translator held a comlink in his hand, his words loud and echoing from the barge. 

“The mighty Jabba hopes that you will die an honorable death, and that if you wish to beg for mercy, he will hear your pleas.” 

“You can tell the mighty Jabba to stick that offer up his huge green ass!!!” Harry yelled, and there was no need for a translation because his tone was quite clear. 

“Jabba, this is your last chance! Free us or die,” Luke yelled towards him. This too, needed no translation. The giant slug-like creature next to him heaved out an unintelligible reply and snorted.  
“Move them into position!” the translator cried. 

Louis saw Lando shoot Luke an unobtrusive look, and the small R2 unit appeared next to Louis. He wondered at where he had been hiding all this time. One of the compartments opened up. 

He jerked his gaze back to Luke. 

“Throw him in!!!” the translator screeched, and Louis watched in horror as the guards pushed Luke over. He didn’t know if he screamed or not, but his heart felt like it stopped in his chest. 

But then something strange, almost miraculous happened. Luke grabbed the end of the plank and flipped himself back to the edge. The plank wobbled dangerously, but he remained still. He waved towards where Louis and R2 were, and the open compartment shot off Luke’s lightsaber which he caught in midair. 

He began slashing at the guards with his lightsaber, sending one of them tumbling below into the pit. 

The response was almost instantaneous. Jabba yelled and grabbed Louis’ chain even harder than he had in a rage. Louis struggled to breathe as his body was tugged as Jabba stormed around the ship. He gasped for breath as Jabba finally let go, sending him tumbling towards the ground. 

He looked towards the skiff where the skirmish was happening. He saw Lando fighting with the other guards, some of them falling into the pit, and Harry trying to fight with his hands tied. The guards on the larger ship were now trying to blast the smaller skiffs with laser guns attached to the Portside bough. Louis watched as Lando was rocked overboard, falling to the side of the pit. Luke had freed Harry and Chewbacca from their bonds, but they also had to content with Bobba Fet, the bounty hunter who had flown down to confront them. 

Luke sawed his gun in half but was distracted by a cable the bounty hunter tried to shoot at his feet. 

Harry noticed Luke’s distress and found a discarded spear left by one of the guards. He threw it it expertly, hitting the bounty hunter in the chest. He fell off the side straight into the Sarlacc’s mouth. Louis sighed in relief, and Harry and Chewbacca remained standing. The second skiff was now firing on them even as Luke jumped over, decimating the guards with his lightsaber. 

Louis squared his shoulders, straining against the pull of the collar. He had to get free. Jabba was still yelling and issuing orders, but his guards were gone. Louis knew what he had to do. 

He grabbed the length of the chain, his arms buckling under the weight and looped it over Jabba’s neck. He squeezed it as tight as he possibly could and then dove towards the side, making it a noose. Jabba choked and grasped towards his neck, but he couldn’t tear it off and his guards were nowhere near. 

Louis squeezed as hard as he could, putting his whole weight into it. At length, he heard Jabba’s breath still. He turned to see that Jabba’s tail had stopped moving. He was dead. 

Louis had killed before, terrible and evil men, but still he felt what he had done in his bones, even though he knew that he had saved everyone under Jabba’s control. He still felt sick inside. Shoving those thoughts away, he cleared his mind. He had to get out of chains. The R2 droid was still near to him.  
“R2! Can you help me out of these?” he asked him as the droid beeped out an affirmative answer. 

A small laser appeared out of one of its compartments, sawing off the chain that held it to the collar. It fell off, leaving just the collar in place. He could deal with that later. 

“Come on R2, we have to get out of here,” he said, and finally he was able to move freely. 

Luke was now aboard the bigger vessel. Louis could see his lightsaber flashing.  
“Point the barge gun at the deck! Set it to fire!” Luke yelled at him as he was battling the rest of the guards left. 

Louis hurried to the gun on the bridge, pointing it where Luke had asked him to. 

He then hurried up towards Luke who had stopped fighting to beckon him over. He scooped Louis’ up in his arms. He was holding on to one of the rigging ropes from the mast. 

“This seems familiar,” Louis said, smiling. It was the exact same thing he’d done when they had been on the Death Star. 

“You know Jedis do things in style,” Luke said, grinning now. Louis squeezed his arms around his brother tighter as they jumped, swooping down towards the little skiff that held Harry, Lando, and Chewie. 

The gun that Louis had programmed exploded in the background, as they landed. 

“Let’s go!” Luke said.  
Louis turned to see that the barge was on fire. He nodded to himself.  
A sandstorm was brewing, Louis could see it coming up behind them even as they were moving. 

“It’s always out of the frying pan, into the fire isnt it?” Lando said, shaking his head. He looked a bit worse for wear. Well, they all did, Louis thought. 

He felt Harry come up behind him, lowering a jacket onto his shoulders.

“I can’t believe he made you wear that,” Harry’s gruff voice came out. 

Louis looked up at him, for the first time since they had separated. Harry’s eyes were returning to their normal green, still a bit fuzzy around the edges. 

He acted on instinct and pressed his face to Harry’s chest, wrapping his arms around him. Harry returned the embrace and Louis felt himself tear up. He was just so glad they were both alive. 

Harry lifted his chin, kissing him tenderly. 

“Hey, now none of that,” Luke called out in an annoyed voice. Louis giggled, but Harry frowned. 

“Why not, you got something to say?” Harry said at Luke. 

Before Luke could respond, the sandstorm finally caught up with them. Wind whipped around them, causing the skiff to wobble and shake. 

“We’re going to have to walk to the ship,” Luke said frowning.  
“That might take awhile,” Louis said. 

“It’s better than the ship crashing,” Lando said, already at the controls. 

They left the skiff in the sand, trying not to get lost in the storm. Luke swore he knew where he was headed, so they followed him in the lead. Lando, Chewbacca, and R2 moved after him, and then Harry and Louis brought up the rear. 

It was hard to hear over the rushing noise of the sand, so Louis didn’t bother to say anything. He was just glad to have Harry next to him, warm and breathing. He had no idea what they were going to do next. 

They made it to the Millennium Falcon after hours of walking in the sand. Louis was bone-deep tired. He couldn’t wait to have a bath and then fall asleep. He saw Luke’s X-Wing parked next to the Falcon and frowned. Did this mean Luke wasn’t going with them? 

Harry lowered the platform, and they all trudged tiredly inside. 

“God, it’s so nice to be free from that howling sand,” Louis said, feeling like nothing he was wearing was free from the crust of sand. 

“How do you think I liked living here,” Luke said. 

“You did good out there, kid,” Harry said, giving him an appraising eye. 

“Well, I’ve had a lot of training,” Luke said, dusting himself off. 

“You’re not leaving so soon are you?” Louis said, noticing Luke was edging back towards the gang plank. 

“There’s somewhere I need to go first before I meet back up with you at the fleet.” 

Louis grabbed him by his shoulders and hugged him fiercely, noticing Harry scowling in the background. He smirked inwardly. 

“Be careful,” he told Luke. 

“Hey Luke, I owe you one. Thanks for coming to get me,” Harry said gruffly, grabbing Luke by the shoulder. 

The R2 unit toddled off with Luke, and then Louis was alone with Harry. Chewbacca had already went up towards the cockpit. 

Louis wanted a shower and some clean clothes. He looked at Harry questioningly when he didn’t move from the entrance when he came to walk past. 

“Listen, Louis, I…I’m sorry you had to go through so much trouble to rescue me,” Harry said. He was avoiding contact. 

“That slimy son of a bitch used you and showed you off without your consent, and I’m glad you killed him,” he said earnestly. 

Louis reached up to bring Harry’s forehead down to his own. He felt the bigger man’s arms wrap around him, holding him close. 

“I love the way you hold me,” Louis whispered. 

“That’s good because I plan on doing it often,” Harry said back. 

Louis giggled and broke the embrace. 

“I need a shower and some food before we start to head back to the fleet…” he said. “Mind if I use the one in your quarters? I heard it has the best water pressure.” 

Harry’s Adam’s apple bobbed. 

“Uh sure, you can use mine. And I can, uh, set aside some clothes for you,” he said.

“Great,” Louis said breezily. “I expect to stay in your bed too,” he added, sending Harry a smile. He couldn’t help it, the man was just so easy to tease. The expression on his face was priceless, his jaw looked like it was going to fall off his face. 

He didn’t wait for Harry to follow him, he already knew he would. The captain’s quarters wasn’t far from the cockpit, Louis knew exactly where it was. It was the most spacious of the “rooms” in the ship but also the messiest. Harry was a pig when it came to cleaning. 

Louis entered the bedroom and made a beeline for the shower. He couldn’t wait to take off the ridiculous bikini and feel clean again. He shrugged off Harry’s jacket, leaving it on the bed. He stepped into the bathroom, finding a towel and laying it on the sink. He started up the water, waiting until it was piping hot and then got in. The water felt like heaven on his sand encrusted skin. He sighed with pleasure. It was not the best shower, but it certainly felt like it as he stood for a long moment basking in being clean.  
“Harry, I know you’re just waiting by the door, you can come in here with me you know…” Louis said, and he heard Harry stumble inside. 

“Can you hand me the towel, please?” Louis said, opening the shower door and peeking his head out. 

Harry wordlessly thrust the towel towards Louis. He covered himself and stepped out of the shower. The towel was fluffy and Louis felt so warm and so clean. He felt like he could sleep for a million years. And there was Harry standing right in front of him, whole and alive. 

“I brought you some muffins,” Harry mumbled, struggling to avert his eyes and failing. 

“You should take a shower,” Louis said, noticing that Harry’s clothes and his skin were still covered in sand. 

“Hmm, yeah I’ll do that,” Harry said, his hand coming up to frame Louis’ face. 

“Just gonna kiss you a little first,” he said, and Louis’ breath hitched. 

This was the second time he’d kissed Harry, and it was better. The first kiss had been rushed, steered by fear of sudden death, of never seeing each other again. 

This time it was tender and lovely. The steam from the shower was dissipating, but Louis didn’t want to ever stop kissing Harry. 

“You’re so beautiful,” Harry said when they broke apart. Louis, blushed. He said it so sincerely that Louis had to look away. 

“You’re so shy sometimes, it’s sweet,” Harry said. He was shucking off his clothes, stepping away from Louis. This time it was Louis that stared at him, reveling in the skin that was being revealed. He had never seen Harry without his shirt and he was realizing this man was very fit.  
He threw off his tight fitted shirt and vest and started undoing his pants. Soon he was naked, very, very naked. Louis’ eyes couldn’t help but lower his gaze to Harry’s deep V-line. 

“Like what you see, sweetheart?” Harry asked, his voice octaves lower. Louis shivered.

“I’d like it better if you didn’t smell so bad,” Louis quipped, but his voice shook, and of course Harry noticed. 

“Don’t you worry about that baby,” Harry said, smirking. 

Louis was seconds away from rolling his eyes but grinned back at Harry. He dropped his towel as Harry turned the shower back on. 

He turned back around and froze as Louis stood there for a long moment. 

“Better take care of that,” he said, motioning to Harry’s hard on before winking. 

He shut the door behind him before Harry could say anything, but he could hear him chuckling behind the door. 

Louis was internally screaming. Harry was HUGE. His body was everything he was attracted to. Not only was he bigger than Louis, but his cock looked like something that would satisfy him. He rummaged around Harry’s drawers and found some of Harry’s clothes to put on. He settled on a large navy shirt that dipped below his collarbones, obviously meant for someone with a broader chest. 

He lay on Harry’s bed, stretching his legs out. Any other time, he would probably be out cold, but he was anticipating Harry getting out of the shower. He had suspected that Harry was big, hell he’d been pressed up tight against him on numerous occasions, but he didn’t really have visual proof, and that was Harry SOFT. 

Harry walked out of the shower, a towel around his waist. He smirked when he saw Louis on the bed, in just his shirt.

“I must have won the lottery to have you here in my bed, in my clothes,” he said, his eyes roving over every inch of Louis’ skin. 

“Why don’t you drop the towel and find out just how lucky you are?” Louis asked, slowly drawing up the large shirt so that it showed his hairless thighs. 

Harry’s eyes tracked the motion, his pupils getting bigger. 

“Or I guess we could just go to bed,” Louis said, faking a yawn. 

“I’m so tired and not at all in the mood,” he said, grinning when he saw that goaded Harry into action. He dropped the towel and strode over to the bed. Louis was in the center, head cocked coyly to the side. 

At this level, Harry’s dick was right in front of him, and he was right. It was massive and getting harder by the second. His torso was lean and the ridges of his abs were defined. 

“You spend a lot of time in the gym?” Louis asked, reaching out with his fingertip to touch his chest.  
Harry inhaled abruptly, Louis marveled at his control and then frowned. 

Louis was in his bed almost naked, and he was trying to keep himself in check? That wouldn’t do. 

He turned away from Harry, so that his back was to him. 

“It’s getting so hot in here,” he said and slowly raised the shirt above his head, throwing it to the floor. He looked back at the other man whose eyes were now glued to his ass. 

And with that, he could see the control Harry was trying to keep from breaking. 

He leapt on the bed causing Louis to giggle. His giggles soon turned to moans as Harry latched on this neck, kissing and sucking at his sensitive skin. He nuzzled into Louis’ neck, and Louis loved the feeling of Harry’s scruff against him. His smile turned into confusion as Harry broke away from him, putting distance between their bodies.  
“What’s wrong?” Louis asked, noticing that Harry’s body was still very interested in what was happening. 

“Baby, I just have to ask you…do you really want this? Do you really want to be with a pirate like me? I have’t been in many relationships, and I’m not exactly the most reliable guy,” Harry said, bringing up his hands to tug at his own hair. 

Louis gently took Harry’s hands between his. 

“If I hadn’t wanted this, I wouldn’t have come for you at Jabba’s palace. You do know I’m in love with you despite your faults,” Louis said. “As I know I have faults of my own.” 

“I just don’t want to fuck this up,” Harry said, sighing. 

“If you do, you know I’ll let you know,” Louis said and was rewarded with Harry’s brief laughter. 

“We understand each other, I’ve felt drawn to you from the beginning despite myself,” Louis said, wrapping his arms around Harry’s middle. Harry’s hands came up to grip at Louis’, holding them in place. 

“You’re special Louis, you deserve so much more than an old space pirate,” Harry said.  
“You’re who I want,” Louis said simply. 

“Now, are you going to take me to bed, or are we just going to sit here,” Louis whispered in his ear. 

He smirked when Harry flipped him over, his biceps by Louis’ head.  
“I thought that would get you moving,” he said, grinning. 

Harry looked down at him, wonder and tenderness in his eyes. 

“They say that the sun is the brightest star in the galaxy, but they’re wrong. It’s you,” Harry said, lowering his face down so that Louis reached to meet his lips in a sweet kiss. 

“Cheesy,” Louis said, but he was grinning. 

Harry kissed him roughly, gathering up his hands in one of his own. 

The other hand groped for the lube that was left out openly on the table.

“You really just leave that out there for anyone to see?” Louis asked, still breathless form the kiss. 

“I’m confident in my abilities, what can I say,” Harry said, opening the lube and coating his fingers in it. 

“Let me prep you, sweetheart,” Harry said, using his large fingers to gently open Louis up. 

“I can never tell if you’re insulting me with that name or if you’re serious,” Louis said, sighing. Harry’s hands felt so good inside him, filling him already. 

“It’s a term of endearment,” Harry said, using his other hand to grip Louis’ waist, trying to still his movement. 

“I have more where that came from too,” he said, having the gall to wink. 

“That’s not attractive,” Louis said, fighting the urge to kick Harry in the shin. 

“That’s not what your body is telling me, baby,” Harry said, punctuating his words with a twist of his fingers. 

“Oh god,” Louis cried, as Harry touched his prostate, leaving him feeling like he was going to explode. 

“Just Harry, baby,” he said, and this time Louis did kick him in the thigh. 

“Come on, get in me,” he said, after unsuccessfully trying to get him to go faster. 

“Don’t want to hurt you,” Harry replied, kissing him thoroughly. Louis lost track of time then, feeling so overwhelmed by the tenderness of the kiss.  
“You don’t need a condom,” Louis said, as he saw Harry rooting around in his compartments. 

He turned back around slowly. 

“Oh really?” he asked, his tone of voice turned on, deeper than he’d ever heard it. 

Louis nodded, urging him to come back. He startled a moment when Harry started to push inside. 

“Baby, you feel so good,” Harry grunted, ever so slowly going deeper. 

Louis brought his arms around Harry’s neck, holding him tighter. 

“Give it to me,” he said, urging Harry on by crossing his ankles behind his back. 

“Your wish is my command, Princess,” Harry said.

Before Louis could even think of getting annoyed by the phrase, Harry was pounding into him. 

Louis moaned, feeling his whole body being jostled by the bigger man. 

“You’re so tight, just for me, aren’t you?” Harry was saying. Louis was no longer coherent, just feeling his whole body on fire. The desire was swallowing him whole, Harry was so big inside of him, the biggest he’d ever had. He tried reaching for his cock, but Harry held his hands down. 

He was going to come fast even though he wanted the feeling to last forever. 

“I love you baby, I’m gonna do right by you,” Harry said, thrusting even faster, pistoning his hips. 

“Fuck, Harry, fuck,” Louis cried out. 

It only took a moment and he was coming, hard all over his stomach. 

Harry wast still moving in him, he felt blissful. His hand wandered down to his stomach where he could almost feel the slight pudge where Harry’s dick was. 

“Fuck,” Harry said, watching him, Louis’ eyes heavily lidded.

“Sweetheart,” he said, and then he was coming inside of Louis, his breath coming out in pants. 

His body sagged, and he dropped gently on top of Louis, nosing at his neck.  
“MMM, I hope we’ll be doing that a lot,” Louis said, his eyes closed, petting at Harry’s heavier body while he was still inside him. He felt Harry’s dick give out a weak pulse, and he giggled. 

“Like the sound of that do you?” he asked. 

Harry groaned and pulled out of Louis slowly. Louis rolled his eyes, and Harry immediately stuck two fingers back inside, feeling the cum dribbling out. 

“You’re disgusting,” Louis said, but he let him do it. After a few moments, Harry got up to fetch a wash towel. He cleaned Louis off and then himself, throwing the rag on the floor. 

“Go to sleep, sweetheart,” he murmured, gathering Louis in his arms. Louis was exhausted and sated, and for the first time in a long time, he fell asleep quickly. 

✶✶✶✶✶

  
They were a few hours away from where the Rebel fleet was stationed when they received a distress signal.  
“I know this sign off…” Louis said as they broadcast it in the cockpit.

The signal they received was crackly and faint. There was an asteroid close by where apparently a Rebel ship had crash landed. 

“He’s lucky we even heard this,” Louis murmured as they listened to the signal. 

“This is one of the lesser known routes to where we’re going,” Harry said, “luckily it was us and not the Imperials.”  
Louis was a very careful person and trusted few people. One of the few people he trusted was Poe Dameron. He was rather like Harry if he thought about it. Maybe he did have a type.  
He hadn’t expected to receive a distress signal from his ship. Nor did he expect to see him anywhere near this star system. 

“We have to pick him up,” Louis said, taking off the headset. He knew exactly where the signal was coming from. 

“Oh? We do? You know this guy?” Harry asked, arms folded. 

“Yes, we’ve worked together in the past,” Louis hedged, unwilling to say that’s not ALL they did together. 

Harry nodded reluctantly. 

“We can see where the ship is, hopefully he has a suit, that way we can just hover above.” 

Louis went back to send a signal back, hopefully he hadn’t been there long. Through the ship’s glass he could see them getting closer to the asteroid. 

“You’re so sexy when you work the board,” Harry said, coming up behind him. “Makes me want to take you to bed again.” 

Louis snorted. “Anything I do makes you horny,” he said primly, laughing when Harry swung his chair around. Harry leaned down towards him, arms coming around the chair. Louis looked up at him coyly, biting his lip. 

“Sweetheart, you’re way too tempting,” he said, kissing him deeply. Louis sighed and let his arms come around Harry’s neck, drawing him down. 

“We shouldn’t be making out in here while we’re going to rescue someone,” he said breathlessly. 

“Why not? Live a little dangerously,” Harry said, kissing his neck. His hands found the gold thread of the necklace Louis put on. 

“Love seeing you in my jewelry, in my clothes,” Harry said. Louis let his legs part so that Harry was leaning fully into him. We can’t have sex in here, he thought hazily even though Harry was making it very hard to stop. 

“Baby, if you wanna stop, you gotta stop being so sweet,” Harry whispered.  
Before they could do anything else, the warning sirens sounded and Louis jumped. Harry groaned and laid his head on Louis’ chest. 

“We better go see what that is,” Louis whispered, petting Harry’s head. He kissed him on the forehead and forced him to move, albeit not very strongly. Harry was more muscular than him and bigger, but Louis gave him a stern look and he relented. 

“To be continued,” he said, and Louis shook his head with a smile. 

Chewbacca was down by the landing port, moaning about the sensors. Louis patted him on the back and went to see what the problem was. 

It seemed that Poe had gotten his signal and was about to leave his ship. Louis turned on the docking mechanisms so that the Falcon was stationary. 

He looked out the viewport to see Poe in a space suit, floating towards the entrance. The area where he could enter was outside of where Louis and Chewbacca were currently. He opened the door so that Poe could come inside and start the decontamination process. All of this lasted a few minutes while Louis patiently waited. He noticed Harry had come behind him. 

“So this a friend of your dad’s or something?” Harry asked, lazily standing by the doorframe. 

“Or something,” Louis said. 

With the decontamination process complete, Louis hit the button so that Poe come come through. 

The chamber opened, and Poe clambered through. His suit looked like it had been through better days. Thank God that it lasted, Louis thought. Poe always was forgetting to get new equipment. 

He took off his helmet revealing the handsome face that Louis knew so well. His grin lit up his face as he ran towards Louis. 

“Aren’t you just a sight for sore eyes!” he said, picking up Louis to swing him around in a circle.

“Poe!!” he shrieked, laughing. “Stop twirling me, you’re making me dizzy,” he said slapping him on the shoulder. 

“I’ve never been more happy to see you, darlin’,” he said, kissing Louis on the cheek. 

“AHEM.” 

Louis and Poe turned to see Harry glaring at them from the doorway. Gone was the lazy posture, in its place Harry was standing at his full height, glowering. 

“New boyfriend?” Poe asked in Louis’ ear, making Harry glare even more. 

“Poe Dameron, this is Harry Styles,” Louis said, leading Poe over by the arm towards Harry. 

“That’s Captain Styles,” Harry said, taking the hand that Poe offered and shaking it firmly. A little too firmly, Louis thought.  
“Poe was my one of my first allies back during my political career. He showed me the ropes,” Louis said. 

“Showed you the ropes on quite a few things,” Poe said, winking at Louis. 

Louis knew that Poe was joking. He was charming and good looking, but Louis had never been in love with him. Not that Harry knew this. 

“Well, we need to get going now that we rescued you,” Harry said. “Need to get to the Rebel base as soon as possible.” 

“Of course,” Louis said, a little shaken by how annoyed Harry was.

“Here, I’ll show you to your guest quarters,” Louis said to Poe. He steered him the opposite direction, to his old room.

“Wow, your new guy is very jealous isn’t he?” Poe said as they walked down the corridor. 

“Yeah, he is but he’s a softie underneath it all” Louis said, grinning.

“You want to make him jealous don’t you?” Poe asked slyly. “Ever the little minx, you are.” 

Louis blushed and bumped Poe in the shoulder. It had the opposite effect as Poe brought his arm around Louis and squeezed him. 

“I’m a little sad to see you attached,” Poe said. “But there’s a guy in my life too.” 

Poe wasn’t that much taller than Louis, so he only had to tilt his head up a bit to look into his eyes. 

“Oh yeah? That’s great, Dameron. I hope you’re happy.” 

“It’s pretty new, I’m scared I’m going to fuck it up,” he confessed, bringing his arm back 

“I”m sure that you’ll be fine, you’re a keeper,” Louis said warmly.

“I’m glad you think so,” Poe said, grinning roguishly. 

“Here’s your guest quarters,” Louis said. “We should be at the base soon.” 

“Thanks, Lou.” 

“So, you and Poe,” Harry said when Louis walked back into his quarters. They were locked in to the rebel base, hopefully would be there within a day. 

“Are you asking if we were lovers?” Louis asked, raising his brow. “You know, I don’t ask about your past conquests,” Louis said, folding the clothes that were at the bottom of his drawer. 

Harry scoffed at this, folding his arms. 

“You just seemed very friendly and touchy with him is all.” 

Louis sighed. 

“Harry, me and Poe have been friends for years, longer than I’ve known you. Yes, we were lovers, but I was never in love with him. You know that I’m in love with you. Nothing has changed. Just because he knows me more intimately than you, it doesn’t mean that I gave him my heart,” Louis said. 

He stood up from his position on the floor and walked over to Harry. 

“You have no reason to be jealous. The only one I love is right in front of me. I would never give you cause to doubt me, and I hope you feel the same,” he said, a little more vulnerable. 

It’s not that he was afraid of Harry cheating on him, but Louis was always the one saying how he felt, wearing his heart on his sleeve. 

Harry’s arms came uncrossed as he brought Louis’ towards him. The comforting smell of vanilla and musk burst into Louis’ sense. He buried his face in Harry’s chest. 

“I just…you’re so beautiful and special, Louis. I know how men look at you. You could have anyone you wanted. Me? I’m just a space pirate that doesn’t deserve you.”  
Louis let out a noise of protest which Harry shushed. 

“You know it’s true. You’re a better person than me, I can admit that. Hell, even Lando was trying to woo you. You just have that effect.” 

“You’re so foolish sometimes,” Louis muttered. “As if I could want anyone else when I have you.” 

He broke the embrace to bring Harry’s forehead closer to him. He rubbed Harry’s cheekbones with his fingertips, ghosting over his facial hair. 

“You’re the only one I’ve let fuck me bare,” he whispered, and Harry’s eyes flew open. 

His hands settled onto Louis’ waist, drawing him tight into his body. 

“Really?” he said, staring at Louis’ lips. 

Louis shook his head in affirmation. 

“God, I’m in love with you,” Harry said, capturing Louis’ lips with his own. Louis let out a little gasp, allowing Harry’s tongue inside.  
“I don’t say it enough, but I love you. You’re everything to me, Louis.”  
“Better keep it in your pants, tiger. We’re almost at the Rebel fleet,” Louis teased. 

Harry brought his arms around Louis, holding him by his waist. 

“When this is all over…” he said then hesitated. 

Louis knew what he meant, but he didn’t need any promises, especially when they were still fighting for their lives and their future. 

He kissed Harry on the top of his head. 

“You don’t need to tell me,” he said. “I know.” 

✶✶✶✶✶

The Rebel fleet was stationed in space, something that was safer for all parties involved. They had learned from the last time, a planet was more dangerous to hide on, harder to flee from, and easier to destroy. If the Empire showed up in full force, it was easier to disperse. Louis was stationed on the largest of the battleships, a frigate. He was assembled with hundreds of real commanders in the war room. In the center of the room was a holographic depiction of the half completed Death Star, rebuilt after Luke had destroyed the other. The moon of Endor and the deflector shield were also depicted. Louis watched as Mon Motha, the leader of the Alliance, entered the room. He had always been in awe of the woman. There was a sternness about her tempered with a kind nature. Admiral Ackbar and General Madine conferred with her as the others milled about the room. 

Harry stood next to Louis, a comforting presence. Lando also entered the room and made a beeline for them. 

Harry looked at the insignia on Lando’s shirt and raised an eyebrow. 

“General lando is it?” he said, teasing evident in his voice. 

“Well, you know I AM a great pilot,” Lando said, grinning.  
“Sure you are, I think they just wanted someone crazy enough to lead the attack.”  
“I’m surprised they didn’t ask you then,” Lando fired back. 

“Who says they didn’t? We’ve switched places now haven’t we? You the crazy one, me the respectable one.” 

Louis rolled his eyes at their banter.  
The atmosphered stilled as Mon Motha called for order. Louis held his breath as he she began to talk.  
“The emperor has made a critical error, and the time for our attack has come,” she said in a clear, loud voice. Louis felt the atmosphere around him tense. 

The hologram shifted as Mon Motha pointed to it. The Death Star and the Endor moon are shown in a larger proportion.

“The data brought to us by the Bothan spies pinpoints the exact location of the emperor’s new battle station. We also have learned that the weapon systems of this Death Star are not yet operational. The Imperial fleet is spread throughout the galaxy, so it is relatively unprotected. We have learned that the emperor himself is personally overseeing the final stages of the Death Star.”  
Murmuring began to spread throughout the room. Harry turned to Louis with an astonished look on his face. Louis remained pensive. Who knew just how many spies had died trying to get this information to the Resistance. 

General Ackbar, the Mon Calamari, stepped up when Mon Motha beckoned him. He pointed to the hologram depicting the Death Star’s force field and the moon of Endor. 

“You can see here that the Death Star is orbiting the moon of Endor. Although the weapon systems are nonoperational now, it does have a strong defense mechanism. It is protected by an energy shield which is generated from the nearby forest on Endor. The shield MUST be deactivated if any attack is to be attempted. Once the shield is down, our ships will create a perimeter while the figures fly into the superstructure and knock out the main reactor. General Lando has volunteered to lead the fighter attack.”

Louis looked at Lando, a little stricken. Harry, too had turned to the man standing next to them. 

Lando looked at them a little sheepishly, shrugging. 

“Good luck,” Harry said, a grudging not of respect in his voice. 

There was a beat and then, ”You’re gonna need it.” 

General Ackbar had left from the center of the room and was now replaced with General Maldine. The hologram changed to the depiction of the fighter ships. 

“We have stolen a small imperial shuttle to be disguised as a cargo ship. Using a secret Imperial code, a strike team will land on the moon and deactivate the shield generator.”  
“Sounds dangerous, wonder who they found to pull that off,” Louis murmured. 

“General Solo, is your strike team assembled?” Madine asked, and now it was Louis’ turn to look at Harry opened mouthed.  
“Uh, yes, my team is ready, but I don’t have a command crew for the shuttle.” 

Chewbacca roared next time, and Harry laughed. 

“I didn’t want to speak for you buddy. Well, that’s one.”

Louis looked up at Harry from beneath his eyelashes. 

“General, you can count me in,” he said, a small smile on his lips. Harry’s attention was drawn towards his lips, his hands almost coming around him in an embrace when a voice startled them. 

“And you can count me in too!” a voice shouted from the back.

The crowd parted to reveal Luke, freshly returned. Louis thought that he looked older and a bit sadder, but he was delighted to see him. 

He ran towards him to be engulfed in a hug.

“Did you get taller?” Louis asked, as they broke apart. 

“No, I think you’re just tiny,” Luke teased. 

Louis cocked his head while he watched his brother. 

“What happened? Is something wrong?”

“Ask me again sometime,” Luke said quietly. 

The assembly broke up as everyone received their orders and readied for the battle ahead. Lando, Harry, Louis, Chewbacca, and Luke congregated around one another. 

Louis spotted Poe with another pilot, a slightly smaller black man who was gesticulating wildly with his hands. Poe was beaming at him, looking at him with a warm gaze. He caught Poe’s eye and gave him a thumbs up, which Poe returned with a wink.

His attention was caught again by a blonde blur that had managed to sneak up on him.

He was lifted in the air a little by two strong, lithe arms, and he yelped in surprise.

“I had hoped to see you!” a bright voice said in his ear. He turned to see that it was Taylor Swift, one of his former colleagues. Louis smiled genuinely at her enthusiasm while giving her a hug. They had grown close during his time before the war, teaming up for covert missions. Taylor had been one of his favorite people to work with. She was taller than him, slim but strong. He noticed the Rebel pilot insignia pinned to her orange uniform.

“You became a pilot, just like you wanted,” he said warmly.

“The Resistance needs all the pilots it can get, I’m lucky I was able to get trained,” she said. Her expression turned mischievous.

“Dameron tells me you’ve found a new man,” she said, smirking.

Louis rolled his eyes. “I can’t believe he said that, he’s such a gossip.”

“I think I know exactly who it is judging by that guy whose stare is burning holes through your clothes,” Taylor said, tilting her head to the right.

Louis glanced behind him and noticed that Harry was indeed staring at him.

“It’s a bit intense,” Taylor said.

“You have no idea,” Louis answered back, fighting a smile.

He chatted with her for a few moments before wishing her luck and hugging her goodbye.

He turned back to see if Harry was still waiting for him, finding him gone. He frowned but doubled back to the barracks where the ships were. He could hear Harry talking with Lando as he walked closer to the Millennium Falcon. 

“Listen, you can take her,” Harry said. “You need the fastest ship in the galaxy and she’s it.” 

Lando looked at Harry appraisingly. 

“I know how much she means to you, I promise. Not a scratch.”

“I believe you, I have your promise now,” Harry said, shaking his finger towards Lando. 

“Get going, you pirate,” Michael said, smacking Harry on the shoulder. 

“Good luck,” Harry said. 

“You too.” 

Louis watched this all from the stolen cargo ship, amused at Harry’s feigned indifference about letting his ship in someone else’s hands.  
“Are you sure your baby is safe with him?” Louis said as Harry walked up the gangplank.

“What are you talking about? My baby is right here,” Harry said with a smirk and walked in between Louis’ spread legs. 

“Uh uh,” Louis said, pushing his finger against Harry’s chest. 

“We don’t have time for any of your funny business,” Louis chided as Harry looked mock offended. 

“That’s not what you said in the shower this morning,” Harry smirked.

“AHEM,” Luke said, clearing his throat and averting his eyes.  
Harry’s posture went from loose and relaxed to tense. Louis looked up at him questioningly. 

“If you two are done,” he gave Louis an eyebrow raise, “the shuttle is ready to go.” 

Louis huffed out a small laugh at Harry’s defeated posture. 

“Hey, it’s gonna be ok. We’ll see the Falcon again.” 

“I know, I just have a funny feeling about all this.” 

They walked towards the interior of the small shuttle. Chewbacca was growling and yelling because his head hit the ceiling.  
“I know buddy, I don’t think they had Wookiees in mind when they designed this,” Harry said, holding at a placating hand. 

There as less grumbling coming from the Wookiee as he sighed. 

Louis felt the same, except there was a terrible sort of anticipation inside of him. He knew that this was the now or never moment. As soon as they started with this plan, there was no going back. They would succeed, or they would fail. He didn’t know what to expect, but he was just glad all the most important people were with him, except his father. He recalled his father with a pang in his heart. There was still no word if he had escaped. He wondered if he was in hiding somewhere, just as desperate to hear if Louis was alive. He was brought out of his musings by Luke firing up the engines.  
“All set?” Harry asked in the pilot’s seat. Luke was next to him, fiddling with the control panel. 

“Let’s move, general,” Louis said, nodding his head. 

Harry smirked again at the use of his title. 

The tiny shuttle roared to life, and they were off. 

✶✶✶✶✶

It didn’t take long for them to reach the Imperial fleet and the Death Star in which they were orbiting. 

“How did they get that up and running so fast?” Harry wondered. Louis was quizzical about it too. The improved Death Star looked even bigger than the one that Luke had destroyed. 

“If we don’t go for this, we’ll have to get out of here pretty fast,” Harry said.  
“We can’t do that now, we’ve committed to the plan,” Louis said although he understood the feeling. 

A voice come over the comms system. 

“We have you on our screen now. Please identify yourself.” 

“Shuttle Tydirim requisition deactivation of the deflector shield.”

“Transmit the clearance code for shield passage,” the voice demanded.

Harry typed in the code that the Rebel spies had procured for them.

“Transmission commencing,” Harry said back.

A few tense moments slid by. Now they would find out if the transmission code was legitimate. 

“It’s going to work…it will work,” Harry said as the moments ticked by.

The star destroyer in front of them loomed even bigger than Louis remembered. He watched as Luke stared intensely at it.   
“Vader, he’s on that ship,” Luke said. 

“Ok, let’s not get carried away. I know this is nerve wracking, but there are a lot of Imperial command ships. It doesn’t mean that Vader is on one of them. Chewie, keep your distance, we don’t want to look like we’re trying to get too close.”  
Chewbacca, at the controls, yelled out something unintelligible. 

“I don’t know, fly casual,” Harry said exasperated. 

“I’m endangering the mission,” Luke whispered. “I shouldn’t have come.” 

“It’s in your imagination, kid. Let’s try for a little optimism, alright.”

They waited for minutes, each one seeming longer than the last. 

“Are they not buying it?” Louis asked himself. He didn’t know why it was taking this long. The transmission had been accepted. Luke looked as worried as he’d ever been, which was saying something. 

The comm finally came back on. 

“Shuttle Tydirium, deactivation of the shield will commence. Follow your present course.” Then the comm abruptly shut off. Their group let out a collective sigh of relief. 

“See! I told you it would work!” Harry said, smacking the control board. 

Louis looked over at Luke whose brow was furrowed. Somehow he believed that Vader was on that ship and had sensed him. If so, then why was their shuttle allowed to go through?

“Alright, no problem, let’s go,” Harry said, as Chewbacca steered them towards Endor. 

Louis had never been to Endor, it was more primeval than he expected. He would have loved to explore in any other situation. They were surrounded by trees, tall and imposing. It reminded Louis of the fairytales his parents used to tell him when he was little. Of princesses and dragons. And forests where witches lived. 

Harry had landed the ship in a clearing, and they ambled out to take a look around. 

They didn’t make it very far when Louis spotted two Imperial troops with laser guns, patrolling the area. 

He signaled for the others to drop down. 

“Chewie and I can handle them,” Harry said.

“But what if they call out for help? There might be more of them out there,” Luke said.

“Hey, it’s me. I got this,” Harry said grinning as he and Chewbacca left their crouching position. 

Louis and Luke exchanged a look that said, “What could go wrong?” 

Harry was able to sneak up behind one of the troopers, but a second too late, a branch crunched under his feet and the trooper turned to face him. 

Louis held his breath as the trooper screamed for help. The second trooper didn’t come to his defense but hopped on his speed bike. 

Chewbacca roared, sending a volley of cross bolts at the bike, causing the trooper to ram into a tree. 

“Great,” Luke said, “if there’re any more of them, they’ll definitely know we’re here NOW.” 

Louis drew the laser pistol from the holster by his side and followed Luke. 

Two more troopers were at the right side and Louis pointed to them.  
“Theres two more Luke!” he yelled as the troopers started to fire at them. 

He started towards them just as he heard Luke say, “Wait, Louis!” But Louis was already off to jump on the speed bike, trying to get it started. 

“Here, let me. I’ve used one of these before,” Luke said as Louis scooted back so that Luke was at the wheel. 

“Jam the comlink while I drive!” Luke shouted as Louis found the controls. They sped by Harry, trying to catch up with the two troopers that had started ahead of them.  
“Hey! Where are you going!” Harry shouted at them, but they were going too fast. 

Louis squeezed his eyes shut, Luke was a reckless driver. 

They were getting closer to the first scout, closing the difference.  
“Here, take the wheel, I’ll jump on this one and you fire the cannons at the other one!” Luke shouted. Without slowing down, he maneuvered so that Louis clambered over him to grip at the wheel. He released an uneasy breath. He hated speeder bikes. 

Luke jumped from the bike knocking the solider off the bike. Either Luke was a very lucky man, or the Force was helping him keep balance because what Louis would have assumed would happen, Luke falling over and getting smashed into a tree, didn’t happen. He gained control of the bike, coming up alongside Louis. 

“Shoot the canons!” he yelled. They both fired at the same time but missed. 

As the raced by the forest, two more stormtroopers appeared behind them.

“Shit,” Louis said, swerving as they fired on him. He could no longer see what Luke was doing, struggling to maintain control of the bike.

“Get the one that’s ahead of us! I’ll take care of these two,” Luke yelled at him. 

Louis could only agree as he sped forward. He glanced back to see that Luke had swung around to meet the other two. 

Now if he could only get alongside this one…

They raced through the forest, Louis scarcely managing to fly over fallen trees, broken branches.  
When he did catch up with the stormtrooper, they were neck and neck. When the trooper realized this, his hand swung to his handgun. Before Louis could react, he shot at his bike causing Louis to lose control. 

He dove off the bike before it exploded, a shower of sparks surrounding him. His head hit something, and he crumpled to the ground, the world became darkness.

Louis let out a groan. He felt like he would probably be bruised for days. His arms had a few scratches, but at least he was whole. Then he realized that he was all alone. He had no idea where Luke had vanished to. He felt something poking and prodding at his ribs. He slowly opened his eyes in confusion. He was still on Endor, still in the forest. There was a creature in front of him, and he sat up, startled. It made a noise of agitation and prodded him with a spear. 

Louis blinked his eyes slowly, struggling to take in what he was seeing. Surely this was an illusion?  
The spear prodded him in the midsection again causing him to hiss. Nope, not an illusion. 

“Hey, will you stop that!” he said. 

The creature jumped back looking at him speculatively, a look which Louis returned. 

It looked like a small bear. It was kind of cute really if it wasn’t trying to prod him to death. 

He stood up slowly, looking for the other trooper that had shot at him. He didn’t see anything, only the wreckage of his own speeder. 

“Great, no way to get out of here,” he said to himself. 

The little bear-like creature stared at him and he stared back. He thought that this was an Ewok. He remembered learning about them when he was younger, he didn’t think they even existed, but here it was. 

He looked around where he was, spotting a fallen log. He sat on it, patting the space next to him. 

“It’s ok, I won’t hurt you,” he said in a kind voice. 

“Maybe you can help me? Come sit down.” 

The little Ewok pushed his spear up and growled, almost sounding like a puppy. 

Louis sighed exasperated. 

“I promise I won’t hurt you!” he said again, holding his hands up in a supplicating gesture. 

Maybe it liked food?  
He searched in his pocket for his last chocolate bar, something he kept in case he needed energy. He broke a part of it off and ate it, making sure to make a happy face. The Ewok looked at him, sniffing the air. It shuffled closer, looking at the piece in Louis’ hand. 

“Thats it, come on,” Louis coaxed as it got closer and closer. 

He placed the piece of chocolate on the log so the Ewok had to climb up and sit next to him. 

Louis took of his helmet, which caused the Ewok to screech, even though the chocolate was already in its hand. 

“Hey, it’s just my helmet, it won’t hurt you. You’re very jittery aren’t you?” he asked. The Ewok seemed less defensive as it walked over, chocolate in its mouth, sniffing at Louis helmet. 

Louis smiled at its curious nature. 

Suddenly, it seemed alert and jumped back.

“Hey, what is was it?” Louis asked just before a glancing laser bolt hit the log he was sitting on. 

Louis yelped and was thrown by the force of it. He stood up, noticing the Ewok was nowhere to be found. 

“FREEZE! Put your hands on your head,” an Imperial scout had managed to sneak up on him. 

Louis turned around to face the stormtrooper, noticing that it was two and not just one. 

“Give me your weapon.”

Louis reluctantly handed over his pistol. 

“Go get your ride and take him back to base,” the first one said. The second stormtrooper trudged away, going for his bike. 

The Ewok, which had been hiding, struck the first trooper with its spear.

Louis looked in surprise as the trooper jumped. He took advantage of his surprise and grabbed a branch to whack him in the head with all his strength. He dove for the pistol he had taken and shot at the second trooper on his bike. It tore through the engine just like he hoped, and the bike lost it’s control, rocketing off into the distance and slamming into a tree. Louis let out the breath he was holding. The forest lapsed back into quiet. The Ewok was tugging at his hand, trying to get him to follow him. 

“Now, where do you want to take me?” Louis asked, but the Ewok just looked at him. 

“Fine, it’s not like I have any idea where I’m going anyway,” he said, tiredly. So far this mission hadn’t turned out the way he’d expected. He had planned for other events but not getting separated from the others. He hoped they weren’t as lost as he was. They still needed to find the beacon and turn it off. He left his helmet laying on the log, there could be an off chance that Chewbacca could find the scent and follow him. 

The moon of Endor was vast. Louis had realized that from the start, but as the Ewok led him deeper and deeper into the forest, he realized there was probably no other civilization on the planet. 

He started seeing stairways that led up into the trees and bridges that spanned the gap between them. He saw many like the little Ewok holding his hand, although they looked scared at the sight of him. Perhaps they had only ever known the empire’s troops, they must have scouted through there. He wished for once that he had a universal translator, he had no idea what was being said to him.  
His guide led him to one of the biggest trees in the center of the forest. Up and up they climbed, Louis feeling winded by the time they reached the plateau. He felt woozy being up that high and pretend that there wasn’t just a thin wooden plank keeping him from the solid ground below. 

It looked like a throne room where the Ewok had taken him, the space was empty except for a wooden dome like chair where an older, Louis guessed, Ewok sat. 

The Ewok, who had been guiding him, franticly pointed to the ground where Louis stood. Understanding he must show some sign of fealty, Louis knelt down. 

There were other creatures coming to watch now, seemingly unafraid now that Louis was being judged. 

He looked up at the small bear like creature. 

“I know that you can’t understand me, and I you, but I wish you no harm,” he said clearly. 

The Ewok king was watching his every move, but apparently he was deemed acceptable because the king nodded towards Louis’ guide. The Ewok began cheering, and soon the other did too. Louis looked around in amusement. They were quite cute. 

He was led again into the belly of a tree that had been hallowed out to look like a living space. 

The Ewok pressed some clothes into his hand, gesturing him to change. 

“What’s wrong with what I’m wearing now?” Louis asked, but the Ewok just looked at him. 

He gazed at the soft shimmery fabric of the dress the Ewok pushed on him. 

“Alright, if it makes you happy.” The Ewok continued chattering. 

He took off his dusty and muddy clothes, wincing at his cuts and bruises. He didn’t know how to communicate that he needed to find his friends. 

He changed into the diaphanous dress, leaving his leggings on. It was cooler in the trees, and he shivered, wishing he had a coat. 

The Ewok nodded his approval and took his hand again. Louis was getting quite used to being led around, the size of the Ewok like a small child. 

He was eating some broth that the Ewok procured when he heard drumbeats. 

“What is that?” he asked aloud, rising up to his feet. 

He wound his way through the passages between the trees, little glow lights brighting his path. 

In the clearing where he had first been brought, he could now see Harry, Chewbacca, and Luke hog tied and set up on poles. What had they gotten into now? 

Louis raced towards them only to be held back by some of the Ewoks and their spears. 

He turned towards his little friend who was standing near the king. 

“Those are my friends!” he shouted, trying to get him to understand. 

The king was looking at them with a thunderous expression, chattering in the Ewok language. 

The little Ewok turned to Louis sadly, shaking his head. He made the universal sign of a finger over a throat. 

“Louis!” Harry shouted, looking relieved to see him safe. 

“Please, you have to set them free,” Louis said frantically. The Ewoks were setting kindling down as if to start a fire. 

"You can’t tell me they mean to roast us!” Harry said.

Louis thought that’s indeed what they were going to do. 

“Louis, try to talk to that little Ewok. Tell him that we have magic powers and if they don’t let us go then they will anger us,” Luke said, somewhat calmly. 

Louis tried again to get through the barrier of the spears but to no avail. He crouched down so that he was at the same height as the Ewok. 

“Let them go or they will be angered,” he said, trying to impress upon him the seriousness. 

The Ewoks continued to lay kindling down. 

“Louis, I’m going to levitate you over towards the fire,” Luke said. 

“Wait, is that safe?” Louis asked, but Luke made no answer, closing his eyes. 

Suddenly, Louis found himself in the air, floating. He almost screamed seeing how high up they were already. 

The Ewoks started to chirp in amazement and terror. Louis tried to look as regal as possible as he was scared shitless. 

Luke floated him over towards the throne. 

“Let them go,” Louis said, as he was brought down gently to the floor. 

The Ewoks ran as fast as they could over to where the men and Chewbacca were being held, undoing their bindings as fast as they could. The continued chattering amongst themselves, bowing to Luke.

Louis let out a bright grin as they were finally released. He ran over towards Harry, hugging him tightly. 

“Whoa Princess, I’m fine. Are you alright?” he asked, gently bringing his hand up to Louis’ cheek. 

“Yes.”

Louis saw that Luke had kept himself apart from the others. 

“Luke, what is it, what’s wrong?”  
The walkway was now deserted, the crowds of Ewoks gone. It was cold in the forest now, so high up the trees. Louis shivered as Luke was looking out into the darkness. 

“Vader is here, I can sense it.” 

Louis didn’t doubt Luke’s senses, but if Vader was here…perhaps he already knew of their plan. 

“I have to leave, Louis. My presence here is endangering everyone. He doesn’t know about you…he only knows about me. He will do anything in his power to destroy the Resistance. I have to confront him.”  
Louis heart stopped in his chest, anxiety sky rocketing. 

“But you can’t do that, Luke. I don’t know what would happen if I lost you!” Louis said, his eyes filling with tears. This was the brother he never knew that he had, something that brought them together like nothing else could.  
“You should run away, you should leave, not go and face him…” Louis said, his words trialing off. Luke looked convinced at what he had to do. Nothing Louis said would change his mind.  
“You’ve always been strong, Louis, but you know how to be vulnerable and kind. I strive to be that way too. If I never see you again…” his voice broke, “just know that I’m so proud of you.” 

Louis couldn’t help the tears streaming down his face as he launched himself into his brother's arms. 

“Please be careful, Luke. I don’t accept that you’re walking into certain death. You’re more powerful and perceptive than you know,” Louis said, sniffling.  
“This is going to sound crazy, Lou, but I’ve felt good inside of Vader, I know that if I tried…I think I could turn him to the light side,” Luke said, petting Louis’ hair. 

Louis didn’t know how to react to this, but he hugged Luke tighter to him. 

“Don’t say goodbye,” he said, as they broke apart. 

Luke gave him a bittersweet smile as he brushed the tears from his cheek. 

“May the Force be with you,” Louis said, as Luke turned and walked away. 

He stood there silently shivering for a few moments more feeling his heart break. He didn’t doubt Luke’s power with the Force nor did he think that he was helpless, but to go against someone as powerful as Darth Vader…he was scared. He was terrified he would lose the only other family he had. 

“Hey, Louis, I was just looking for you…what’s going on?” Louis was crying.  
“Nothing…I just wanted to be alone,” Louis said, struggling to compose himself. He didn’t really want to tell Harry that Luke had left, and that Vader was actually their father. 

“Nothing? It doesn’t look like nothing,” Harry said, standing in front of him with his arms crossed. 

“I don’t really want to talk about it…” Louis said, trying to brush past him. 

“Oh? And you could tell Luke? He was just here wasn’t he? Oh…I see,” he said in such a strange tone of voice that Louis looked back at him.  
“I’m sorry,” Harry said, looking genuinely contrite. 

Louis stopped where he was and turned back to him, pressing his face into Harry’s chest.

“Please…just hold me,” he asked, feeling better after Harry’s arms enfolded him. 

They stood there for some minutes, Louis just basking in Harry’s warmth. 

He looked up into Harry’s face, seeing that he was questioning where Luke went. 

“Luke has gone to face Lord Vader,” Louis whispered. “We’re going to have to destroy the shield generator ourselves.” 

Harry made a noncommittal noise in the back of his throat. 

“Well, we should get some sleep if we’re going to do that,” Harry said gently. 

He broke the embrace but caught Louis’ hand with his. Louis smiled up at him, shakily. 

“Whatever you want to tell me, whatever it is you’re not saying…it’ll keep,” Harry said. 

They walked back to the main section of the Ewok ‘city.’ They both had separate rooms, but Louis didn’t want to sleep alone. 

The room was in the center of the tree like the others with a mattress on the floor. 

“I didn’t get to say how beautiful you look in that dress,” Harry said, watching as Louis dug through the clothes the Ewoks had brought it, looking for something to sleep in. 

“You should have seen my outfits during my senatorial service,” Louis said, smiling as he remembered the elaborate dresses and hairstyles he wore. 

“I would have loved to seen you back then. You’d probably have hated me even more than you first did,” Harry said chuckling.  
Louis turned back to him, cocking his hip, a movement which Harry followed with his eyes hungrily. 

“You’re probably right, though I never hated you, Harry. You just got on my nerves.”

“Oh, I got on YOUR nerves? I’m so sorry sweetheart.” 

“Are you looking for an apology?” Louis asked, stripping out of the dress. 

He giggled as Harry wrapped his strong arms around him, sighing when he kissed his neck. 

“Of course not. I know I’m an arrogant son of a bitch. And I don’t usually say that I’m sorry.” 

“I seem to remember telling you that you were an arrogant son of a bitch, glad to see you’ve remembered that,” Louis said as they sank down onto the small mattress. Louis smiled as he saw Harry’s legs dangling off the edge. Warm arms came around his torso, and he felt Harry kiss the back of his neck.

“Sleep now, princess,” Harry said, although Louis knew sleep would probably be a long time coming.

✶✶✶✶✶

The next morning, they set out for the generator’s location. They had met up with the Rebel strike team as they had made their way through the forest. They were a welcome sight to Louis. When they found the Imperial bunker, it was heavily guarded as Louis had predicted. 

“The main entrance to the control bunker is on the far side of that landing platform. This isn’t going to be easy…” he said. 

“Well, we didn’t sign up for easy did we,” Harry said, taking the binoculars for a look.

“Me and Chewie have got into a lot of places more heavily that this,” he continued.

Some of the Ewoks had come with them, all armed with spears and primitive weapons.  
“I think one of them is trying to show us something,” Louis said, as the Ewoks chattered amongst themselves. 

He looked at Chewbacca  
“Can you understand them?” 

The Wookiee groaned. 

“Yes, he can,” Harry said. 

“When did you learn Wookiee?” Louis asked. He had known all along that Harry could speak with Chewbacca, but it didn’t occur to him until just now just exactly how he’d come across that particular skill. 

“That’s a tale to be told another day, but Chewbacca says they know of a secret entrance on the other side of the ridge. Back door, huh? That’s a good idea.” 

The Ewoks led them to the ridge where the bunker could be seen closer from the back entrance. There were only a few guards loitering around.  
“See, what did I tell ya, not so bad,” Harry said.  
“It only takes one to sound the alarm,” Louis replied drily. 

They were all spread out across the undergrowth as not to be seen by prying eyes. 

Harry grinned at Louis

“Then we’ll have to do it real quiet-like,” he winked at Louis. 

Louis wondered if this man ever ran out of self confidence or if it was natural for him to be this way no matter what.  
“Oh no,” one of the Rebels said. “What’s that thing doing?” he whispered harshly. 

Louis looked up to see one of the Ewoks slipped out of the undergrowth to where the Imperial scouts lounged. It silently swung its furry body on one of the speeder bikes, turning it on. 

“Shit,” Harry said. “There goes our surprise attack.” 

The Ewok made chirping noises and began flipping switches. 

“What the fuck??” an Imperial soldier shouted running towards the bike.  
The Ewok turned the speeder towards the forest and zipped off. 

“Hey, stop him!” one of the soldiers shouted. Three of the troopers hopped on their bikes leaving only one to defend the bunker.  
“Well,” Harry said. “That’s one way to do it. Stay here, I’ll take care of this one,” he said, leaving Louis with the rest of the company. Louis watched as he quietly crept over to the trooper and knocked him out. After he was done, he waved towards Louis and the Rebel strike team.  
“Chewbacca, tell the Ewoks they have to stay here,” Louis said. He didn’t want any of the creatures getting hurt.  
  
The outside of the bunker was now deserted. Louis tapped in the code to let them inside. He braced himself with his blaster as the doors opened. The rest of the team held their breath. Harry was the first inside. He took a look around, but there was no one.  
“Let’s go,” Harry said, leading the way. 

They needed to get to the main control room where the controls were. They found the main control room and stormed through. Louis and his team herded the Imperial troops away from the controls. The rest of the crew take the Imperial’s prisoner, forcing them towards one corner of the room.  
“We better hurry, the fleet will be here any moment,” Louis said.  
“Get the chargers out, hurry, let’s go!” Harry said. 

They were all carrying explosive devices to set them off so that the shield generator was destroyed.  
They didn’t have time for anything before the Imperial commander was coming through the door. Louis froze. 

“Well, well…you Rebel scum bring yourselves freely to us,” he sneered. They were suddenly surrounded by more Imperial troops. Louis’ blaster was taken roughly out of his hands. 

He looked towards Harry to find a grim expression on his face. 

“Alright, let’s move it,” The Imperial commander barked towards his troops. 

They were all escorted out the way they had come, pushed and prodded through the doors. 

The outside was crawling with troops and even an Imperial walker. It looked nothing like the deserted place it was before. 

Louis felt his heart sinking in his chest. Was this how it all ended?  
He heard a noise coming from the trees. As he strained to hear it, all hell broke loose. Hundreds of tiny furry bodies descended from the trees. Louis laughed out loud in surprise. Rocks come crashing down from the trees, hitting troops left and right. 

Louis grabbed Harry’s hand and pulled him down as explosions erupted around them. Just as suddenly as he was thrown down, he was being pulled up by Harry. He raced towards the bunker door control panel.

He typed in the code, but the door didn’t budge. 

“They must have changed the code!” Louis said.  
“We need the R2 unit!” Harry yelled. 

“R2, we need you at the bunker right away,” Louis yelled into his comlink, hoping that it went through. All he could hear was the heavy blaster fire around him. 

He picked up an abandoned blaster and gave Harry some cover as he tried to reroute the system. 

He saw the R2 unit speeding towards them. He stepped aside as it came up to Harry, plugging himself into the terminal. In his haste to get to the terminal, Louis missed the trooper that had been crawling his way towards them. He shot at R2 causing a small explosion. 

“Shit,” Louis let out, running over to set the toppling droid upright. 

“I’m going to try to hotwire it,” Harry said, seeing that the droid was out of commission. 

Louis set the droid against the wall where it was left slightly smoking. 

“I’ll cover you,” Louis said as Harry was in the direct line of fire. 

The battle around them moved ceaselessly. There was gunfire and shouting coming from every direction. 

Harry was fiddling with the wires while Louis defended their position.  
Louis saw that in addition to more troops, an Imperial walker was blasting everything in sight. The ground rumbled with the explosions. Louis grinned as he saw Chewbacca swinging from a vine to land on top of it, two Ewoks attached to him. The hatch opened and Chewbacca threw the trooper from off the top. 

Harry worked furiously at the control panel, the wires sparking as he attempted to hotwire the door.  
“I think I’ve got it,” he said, motioning Louis to come near him.  
The wires he connected spark again, but instead of opening, another door comes crashing down instead. 

“That’s not good,” Louis said, and before he could look at the control panel, he felt a glancing pain in his shoulder. Crying out, he dropped to the floor, the blaster falling with him. 

“LOUIS!” Harry yelled, picking up the blaster and shooting the stormtrooper that had materialized in front of them. 

“Hey, let me,” he said gently as Louis grimaced in pain. 

“It’s not too bad,” Louis said, even though it hurt like hell.  
“It looks like our luck is running out,” Harry said grimly as two troopers approached them. 

Louis winced in pain but hid the blaster he had behind his back. They would go down fighting if they went down. He shared a look with Harry as the bigger man moved in front of him, shielding him. 

“I love you,” Harry said, his eyes intense.

Louis looked up at him, a smile on his face. 

“I know,” he said, grinning. 

Laser fast, he jumped out in front of Harry, shooting the two stormtroopers in front of them. 

“You sure know how to turn me on,” Harry said reverently. Before Louis could answer, A huge walker approached them.

“What the hell…” Harry said as the hatch popped open. 

It was Chewbacca. 

“Chewie!! You giant fur ball! You scared us half to death! Get down here, Louis is wounded!” Harry yelled.

Chewbacca yelled back in the affirmative. 

“Harry, really I’m fine,” Louis said. 

“You took a laser blast to the arm, you’re not fine,” Harry said. “When they open that door, Me and Chewie will go in and set the chargers. Now that we have that thing,” he pointed to the walker, “they can’t do anything without us destroying this whole damn place.” 

Harry was right, which annoyed Louis. The strategy they had put in place would still work. 

Louis watched as the Imperial troops filtered out of the bunker, the door was finally open. 

Harry and Chewbacca went inside while the rest of their company, the Ewoks, and the Rebels that survived watched the Imperial troops like hawks. 

Before long, Harry and Chewbacca were running out of the bunker.

“GET DOWN THIS THING IS GONNA BLOW,” he yelled. 

Louis was running before Harry finished his sentence. 

A shock wave from the explosion lifted him off of his feet, and he was thrown into the bushes. His shoulder screamed in agony. 

But they had done it, they had destroyed the bunker. Louis looked up to see Harry crawling over to him. He was bruised and bleeding, but he still had that roguish smirk on his face. Louis met him halfway, holding him by the waist. 

“And now we wait to see if Lando can succeed,” Louis said. Now that the shield generator was gone, it was up to the Rebels in the sky to destroy the Death Star. 

They watched the sky as the Death Star exploded, signaling that the huge weapon was destroyed. 

The Rebels, the Ewoks, and Harry and Louis all cheered as they watched it break apart. 

“We really did it.” Louis said, tears in his eyes. 

Harry hugged him close.

“I know you’re worried about Luke, but I’m sure he wasn’t on that thing when it blew,” Harry said. 

Louis continued to look up at the sky, tears streaming down his face. 

“You…you really love him don’t you?” Harry asked, his voice pained. 

Louis looked at him inquisitively. 

“Of course I do,” he said. 

Harry let go of him then. 

“Alight. I understand. When he comes back, I won’t get in the way.”

“Wait, what do you…” Louis said and then realized Harry’s misunderstanding.  
“Oh, no, it’s not like that at all. He’s my brother,” Louis said. He was amused by Harry’s astonished reaction

“Luke is your brother?” Harry asked.

“Yes, you silly, jealous man. Although should I be worried you would have given up so easily?” Louis teased. Harry shut him up with a fierce kiss. 

✶✶✶✶✶

The Resistance met on the moon of Endor in the Ewok village. The Imperial fleet had been destroyed along with the emperor. Luke and Lando had joined them as they made a Rebel Headquarters base to spread the news throughout the galaxy. 

Louis knew that it wasn’t over, in fact it was just the start of something new. It would not be like the old Republic days, a civilization that had lasted in peace for hundreds of years, but nor would it be like the Imperial rule which had lasted less. There were still those loyal to the emperor, there were Jedi that needed to be trained, Louis one of them. They would create something different in a search for peace. Louis hoped that he would find himself back in the senate again. 

Harry draped himself along Louis’ back, his warmth a welcome embrace. Louis relaxed himself into him, finally glad they were on the same page. There was still so much more to say, so much that he didn’t know. They had been drawn together in such unlikely circumstances, and now they had time. There was time for him to love. 

He had also heard from his father after they had broadcast the signal that the Empire was disbanded. He was alive, although Louis’ mother and the rest of his family had perished on Alderaan. He would be joining them soon for peacetime talks, as a number of representatives from different planets and cultures were to meet. He was just glad his father was still alive. 

He stared at the bonfire before him, Luke across from him.

He remembered how Luke had taken him aside to talk of their real father. How his last moments had been spent in recrimination for what he had done. 

Louis had taken this all in quietly. He didn’t really have any feelings about what Luke had said, despite the fact that Vader had helped him in the end. At the end of the day, that man was not his father. He was enormously happy that Luke was staying on Endor for now. He had so much to learn from his brother, knowing that he was force sensitive, but he also knew that Luke itched to find more like them, to teach what he had been taught. 

There was a bittersweet feeling he was experiencing, and he wasn’t sure why.

It felt like they were all stood on a precipice, the future vast before them. He watched as all his friends, all who were dearest in the world before him, gathered around the fire, knowing that his father was on his way warmed his heart. 

“The future is now,” he whispered to himself as the embers of the fire drifted upwards toward the stars.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you first and foremost to my beta Anna who is so lovely and checks my fics out so thoroughly. Also thanks to Alex & mads who encourage me with whatever I'm writing. Thank you to the creators and moderators of the Bottom Louis Fic Fest!! Title taken from "Halo" by Depeche Mode


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